Politicians undermine local governments
SIR — When politicians talk about abolishing taxes like graduated tax, property tax, market dues or trade licences they are actually undermining the tax base of local governments which are already crippled by laws that limit their capacity to aggressively collect local revenue.
SIR — When politicians talk about abolishing taxes like graduated tax, property tax, market dues or trade licences they are actually undermining the tax base of local governments which are already crippled by laws that limit their capacity to aggressively collect local revenue.
I believe any politician or government which is really serious about helping all Ugandans by reducing the tax burden should first address the high tax rates we suffer in respect of VAT which is 18%, and income tax on imported goods, 100%, Pay As You Earn 30%, business profits 30%, and on properties like housing which is 20%. The high school fees of sh500,000 per term in boarding secondary schools should also be addressed.
High taxes on transport-related products are doing havoc on us and the economy in general because everything we do involves transport for everybody whether poor or rich. Politicians should therefore be addressing the effects of all the taxes in our tax system and not only those affecting local governments.
Ugandans could be relieved of the tax burden if the government took measures to reduce its dependence on tax revenue alone.
Some countries rely on their natural resources like oil. in Uganda we can rely on our abundant water, especially the River Nile which can be used to generate a lot of electricity for export to neighbouring countries.
The energy export earnings would then be used to develop the country and the taxpayers’ burden would be reduced to reasonably affordable rates which they would not try to evade.
Betty Musoke
Kampala
I believe any politician or government which is really serious about helping all Ugandans by reducing the tax burden should first address the high tax rates we suffer in respect of VAT which is 18%, and income tax on imported goods, 100%, Pay As You Earn 30%, business profits 30%, and on properties like housing which is 20%. The high school fees of sh500,000 per term in boarding secondary schools should also be addressed.
High taxes on transport-related products are doing havoc on us and the economy in general because everything we do involves transport for everybody whether poor or rich. Politicians should therefore be addressing the effects of all the taxes in our tax system and not only those affecting local governments.
Ugandans could be relieved of the tax burden if the government took measures to reduce its dependence on tax revenue alone.
Some countries rely on their natural resources like oil. in Uganda we can rely on our abundant water, especially the River Nile which can be used to generate a lot of electricity for export to neighbouring countries.
The energy export earnings would then be used to develop the country and the taxpayers’ burden would be reduced to reasonably affordable rates which they would not try to evade.
Betty Musoke
Kampala