Districts advised on tax collection
Oct 28, 2008
LOCAL Governments must devise alternative means of generating revenue to fund district activities, a former Mbale resident district commissioner (RDC) has advised.
By Daniel Edyegu
LOCAL Governments must devise alternative means of generating revenue to fund district activities, a former Mbale resident district commissioner (RDC) has advised.
Hassan Galiwango, who is also a lecturer at the Islamic University in Uganda (IUIU), said the districts must stop lamenting about the abolition of graduated tax.
He said the Government made a right decision to abolish the tax, because it strained taxpayers, yet its collection was not costeffective.
“It shocks me to see districts still advocating the reinstatement of graduated tax. This is the most primitive tax; it does not exist in any modern economy. We should just forget about it and think of better ways of stepping up our local revenue earnings,†Galiwango said.
He was over the weekend speaking at Mbale Municipal Hall during a joint annual review meeting on decentralisation for the eastern districts of Sironko, Mbale, Manafwa and Bududa. The meeting was aimed at discussing ways of tackling challenges facing local governments under the current decentralisation policy.
Galiwango said whereas decentralisation was introduced to promote the independence of districts in running local government programmes, 98% of the local governments still rely on central Government funds.
Sironko RDC Hussein Kato said local governments failed to generate revenue due to the mistrust taxpayers have developed over time as a result of the rampant corruption in public offices.
“The public normally protest new taxes because they are not seeing value for their money. Roads are in a sorry state and health units have no drugs. Local governments must practice transparency to regain public trust,†Kato said.
But the Mbale deputy mayor, Jamilla Nareba, said the Central Government had on several occasions frustrated initiatives by councils to generate local revenue.
LOCAL Governments must devise alternative means of generating revenue to fund district activities, a former Mbale resident district commissioner (RDC) has advised.
Hassan Galiwango, who is also a lecturer at the Islamic University in Uganda (IUIU), said the districts must stop lamenting about the abolition of graduated tax.
He said the Government made a right decision to abolish the tax, because it strained taxpayers, yet its collection was not costeffective.
“It shocks me to see districts still advocating the reinstatement of graduated tax. This is the most primitive tax; it does not exist in any modern economy. We should just forget about it and think of better ways of stepping up our local revenue earnings,†Galiwango said.
He was over the weekend speaking at Mbale Municipal Hall during a joint annual review meeting on decentralisation for the eastern districts of Sironko, Mbale, Manafwa and Bududa. The meeting was aimed at discussing ways of tackling challenges facing local governments under the current decentralisation policy.
Galiwango said whereas decentralisation was introduced to promote the independence of districts in running local government programmes, 98% of the local governments still rely on central Government funds.
Sironko RDC Hussein Kato said local governments failed to generate revenue due to the mistrust taxpayers have developed over time as a result of the rampant corruption in public offices.
“The public normally protest new taxes because they are not seeing value for their money. Roads are in a sorry state and health units have no drugs. Local governments must practice transparency to regain public trust,†Kato said.
But the Mbale deputy mayor, Jamilla Nareba, said the Central Government had on several occasions frustrated initiatives by councils to generate local revenue.