Write Off Our Tax Arrears –GOVT Cries To Parliament
By Nassiwa Hanifah Samula
The state minister for finance David Bahati has pleaded with the finance committee of parliament to write off tax arrears of about 2.6 trillion shillings which the government of Uganda has failed to pay according to the Uganda Revenue Authority books.
According to Bahati government does not have the funds to cater for the unpaid arrears because they have used most of the revenue collected to construct better roads, transmit electricity in all parts of the country, construct hospitals among others. though some members of parliament who sit on the finance committee ,who include Nathan Nadala Mafabi ,for Budari west district ,Judith Franca Agago woman MP are still not convinced that the mentioned arrears are only for the government entities because there are even private entities which government is trying to protect.
The minister who was appearing before the committee of finance ,However, said that Uganda has done well in tax revenue since 1986 ,where the country was only collecting 5 billion shillings to now 17 billion shillings in the recent years and that they are looking at collecting 900 billion shillings in the next financial year.
Bahati says for this financial year ,government is to support sectors through exempting them from paying taxes which include the agricultural sector and removing Value added tax on insurance services to support people who use air transport to boost tourism.
