Civil society organizations and concerned citizens have this morning converged at the Railway grounds in Kampala to launch the national campaign to support the president’s original stand that exempting MPs from paying taxes on their allowances is unfair.
Several activists told the press that the move by MPs is against all principles of an equitable tax regime. The same campaign will also be launched in all the districts of Uganda to have all the districts of Uganda to have all citizens add their voice to this campaign.
Julius Mukunda of civil society budget advocacy group says they have joined together with other activists in the Tax Justice Alliance to take the march across the country starting with Mbarara tomorrow.
Mukunda says they are carrying the march under the theme; “If I pay tax on my allowances, so should Member of Parliament.”
The group believes that the new insertion under the Income Tax bill by MPs under sec.21 creates a tax exemption on MPs’ emoluments and allowances and adds MPs to the list of special groups that are exempt from paying tax on their allowances.
The special groups in this case include police men, soldiers and prisons.
Activists argue that the move comes at a time when the country’s economy is limping.
“We would like to note that whereas the average basic pay of an MP, for tax purposes is 11.18m Shillings and that their average contribution to tax is 3.37m Shillings, an MP in Uganda earns anywhere between 20-27 Million (including other allowances). And in the spirit of the Uganda Income tax law, which is progressive, the more you earn, the more you should pay. This should appeal more to the MPs who represent the poor communities from which we all come” a joint statement by activists read.
The group also encouraged citizens to sign and send open letters to the president urging him to reject the clause in the bill that seeks to exempt MPs from paying tax on their allowances.
On November 15th 2016, Parliament returned the Income Tax (amendment) Bill to President Museveni with a proposal to exempt MPs allowances from taxes. This was after the president rejected the bill and sent it back to the house.
Today’s peaceful march started from the Railway grounds to UMA show grounds.
