Entebbe, Uganda — President Yoweri Museveni not too long ago met with leaders of merchants from Kampala and different districts on the State House Entebbe to debate a variety of urgent points affecting their companies following a week-long standoff over ‘unfair’ tax system imposed by parliament and being ruthlessly applied by the Uganda Revenue Authority.
During the assembly, the merchants offered a number of issues, together with excessive taxation on textiles, competitors from producers, points with the Electronic Fiscal Receipting and Invoicing Solution (EFRIS), and the edge for Value Added Tax (VAT).
The merchants highlighted the burdensome tax on textiles, which is at present calculated primarily based on kilograms, making it prohibitively costly.
They additionally expressed frustration over producers who interact in each wholesale and retail, which they argue leaves little room for smaller merchants and ends in unfair commerce practices.
Additionally, the implementation of EFRIS has been problematic for a lot of, with penalties imposed for non-compliance, which they declare is unsuitable for his or her operations.
Another vital situation raised was the present VAT threshold, set at an annual turnover of Shs 150 million, which merchants imagine needs to be elevated to higher accommodate small and medium enterprises.
In response to those issues, President Museveni posed a reflective query to the merchants:
“Do we want to build our country Uganda or other countries by trading in goods produced by them?”
He emphasised the significance of retaining capital throughout the nation relatively than contributing to the financial success of others, referring to the continuing monetary outflow as a “haemorrhage” of the nation’s assets.
Acknowledging the complexity of the problems, President Museveni has requested for extra time to analysis and seek the advice of with technocrats on the issues raised. He has scheduled a follow-up assembly on May 7, 2024, at Kololo, the place these discussions will proceed.
I’ve requested the merchants to present me time to analysis extra and seek the advice of the technocrats on all of the issues they raised. I’ll then meet all of them on seventh May, 2024, at Kololo to debate additional.
In the meantime, I’ve directed that URA chorus from issuing penalties and…
— Yoweri Ok Museveni (@KagutaMuseveni) April 19, 2024
President Museveni introduced the outcomes of the assembly on X.
In a big interim measure, the President directed the Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) chorus from issuing penalties and to halt the restoration of any penalties which have already been issued regarding EFRIS compliance. However, he reminded merchants that they need to proceed to satisfy their tax obligations as common.
President Museveni’s engagement with the merchants displays a proactive method to addressing the challenges confronted by native companies, and his interim directives provide some aid as complete options are sought. The upcoming assembly in May guarantees to be an important subsequent step in resolving these vital financial points.
https://www.africanexponent.com/president-museveni-engages-with-ugandan-traders-on-tax-and-trade-issues-after-a-week-long-standoff-with-revenue-collector/
