PAYE tax of 20 percent is a nightmare to us

Jan 10, 2006

SIR — I am a taxpayer<br>who pays ‘PAYE’ (Pay As You Earn). My prime concern is:<br> lI pay over 20 percent of my salary per month as PAYE tax. this is not well with me and any other Ugandan paying the same amount. Out of this, I don’t get any relief from government. I pay for my medicatio

SIR — I am a taxpayer
who pays ‘PAYE’ (Pay As You Earn). My prime concern is:
l pay over 20 percent of my salary per month as PAYE tax. this is not well with me and any other Ugandan paying the same amount. Out of this, I don’t get any relief from government. I pay for my medication, school fees, water and feeding. Every month this percentage is deducted from my salary yet the government has refused to establish the minimum wage.

For us who work on government contracts where taxes are remitted to URA, it is
like the government is getting twice from the same project. Is PAYE supposed to be deducted from one’s net salary? My humble request to URA is to raise the threshold to help bring income into our pockets which will in turn boost our income.

I have no problems with the 10%, 20% and 30% deductions, however, the circumstances under which a multiple of 10 was chosen is of concern to me. Tests are not conducted like that. what is
wrong starting with multiples of 5 — 5%, 10%, 15%, 20%, 25% and 30%.

Samson Ocen
Kampala


SIR — With graduated tax scrapped, MPs awarding themselves pension and gratuity and districts being increased to demonstrate “democracy”, civil servants are going to collapse under the yoke of taxes. May the Lord bless politicians!

Name withheld

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