KACITA complains of high tax burden amidst narrow base
Jul 21, 2008
THE finance ministry has failed to widen the tax base but has increased the tax burden, Issa Ssekitto, the Kampala City Traders Association’s (KACITA) spokesman, has said.
By Winfred Kagwe
THE finance ministry has failed to widen the tax base but has increased the tax burden, Issa Ssekitto, the Kampala City Traders Association’s (KACITA) spokesman, has said.
Referring to the new local service tax, he said: “It is just a duplication of Pay As You Earn and income tax but won’t increase tax revenue.â€
This was during a public dialogue organised by the Uganda Debt Network (UDN) at Hotel Africana in Kampala.
UDN said revenue collection was projected to grow by 0.2% annually if the tax base is not expanded, creating a need for deeper analysis of the tax policy.
According to UDA, Uganda’s tax revenue is at 11%, which is low compared to countries like Denmark with 60% tax revenue.
Ssekitto said the Government had been advised how to increase the tax base but had not acted.
“In every budget reading, there is a vicious cycle of taxes. They remove taxes on one side and put them on the other,†he said.
UDN proposed more pro-poor tax policies like exemptions on commodities like paraffin and matchboxes and continued expenditure allocations to productive sectors like agriculture.
THE finance ministry has failed to widen the tax base but has increased the tax burden, Issa Ssekitto, the Kampala City Traders Association’s (KACITA) spokesman, has said.
Referring to the new local service tax, he said: “It is just a duplication of Pay As You Earn and income tax but won’t increase tax revenue.â€
This was during a public dialogue organised by the Uganda Debt Network (UDN) at Hotel Africana in Kampala.
UDN said revenue collection was projected to grow by 0.2% annually if the tax base is not expanded, creating a need for deeper analysis of the tax policy.
According to UDA, Uganda’s tax revenue is at 11%, which is low compared to countries like Denmark with 60% tax revenue.
Ssekitto said the Government had been advised how to increase the tax base but had not acted.
“In every budget reading, there is a vicious cycle of taxes. They remove taxes on one side and put them on the other,†he said.
UDN proposed more pro-poor tax policies like exemptions on commodities like paraffin and matchboxes and continued expenditure allocations to productive sectors like agriculture.