Government of Uganda introduces new taxes, its not over yet.

As the financial crisis hits harder, the Government of Uganda has introduced more taxes to increase its revenue base. This was after the passing of the Excise Duty Amendment Bill 2024 by parliament.

According to the bill, some major items have increased on the levy to be charged in order to use them. The Excise Duty Amendment Bill directs an increment of levy to 1550 shillings per litre of petrol and imposes a 500 shilling levy per 50kg of lime, adhesive, and grout. The bill also directs a fixed rate of 50 shillings per litre of mineral water.

However, this means that Ugandans have to dig deeper into their pockets to finance the national budget due to reduced funding from foreigners.

According to Kira Municipality member of parliament, the government should have looked to other ways of increasing the tax base. Introducing taxes on building materials is a total waste of time.

“This country has a deficit of 2.5 million houses. We should be reducing taxes on building materials,” Honorable Ibrahim Ssemujju Nganda.

On several occasions, the government of Uganda has been advised to reduce on its extravagant expenditure and tame corruption tendencies.

However, there has been no serious effort implemented to deal with such behaviors in the government. Many government officials have gone ahead to increase their appetite for embezzling government funds.

Others award themselves millions of taxpayers’ money without clear clarification of the work done. They also add hefty allowances with salaries stretching the little earned money from the taxpayer.

A few weeks ago traders around the country especially in the central region, went on a one-week business strike protesting new high taxes and their implementation by the tax collecting body, Uganda Revenue Authority.

This move prompted a serious debate between the traders and the government regarding on how best to solve the tax disputes in the country.

ALSO READ;bwanika-shafik-remanded-for-trespassing-into-state-house