Kasese introduces two taxes

Sep 14, 2005

IN a bid to bridge the revenue gap created by the abolition of Graduated Tax, Kasese district local administration has introduced two taxes.

By John Nzinjah

IN a bid to bridge the revenue gap created by the abolition of Graduated Tax, Kasese district local administration has introduced two taxes.

District chairman Yokasi Bihande said the taxes had been introduced under the district’s three-year taxation programme.

He said there would be a development fee on procurement services rendered to contractors and suppliers and a registration fee to be paid by people dealing in cotton and coffee buying and processing.

This will require registration of coffee dealers and all traders involved in the cotton business, including those dealing in buying and selling of cotton seed, operating ginneries, buying and selling cotton lint, controlling stores used or intended to be used for storage of cotton and exporting lint cotton.

The new tax regulation will also affect all coffee buyers and processors, coffee roasters and coffee stores in the district.

Bihande said the new taxes were intended to promote the growing and marketing of coffee and cotton and to improve the quality of the crops.

He said it aimed at increasing incomes of farmers and providing revenue to the district.

According to the 2005/2006 district budget estimates, the district needs to raise over sh20b but more than 90% of it is expected from government disbursements and grants from donors and NGOs.

The district has been experiencing a steady deterioration in income from local revenue, especially Graduated tax, falling from sh1.2b in 1992 to about sh300m last financial year.

The drastic fall has been linked to the insurgencies that had been disrupting peace in the Rwenzori region since 1989 when the defunct National Army for the Liberation of Uganda emerged.

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