Teso opposes new taxes on land, cement, and fuel

Soroti | A group of farmers, traders, and politicians in the Teso sub-region have protested the government’s decision, through the Ministry of Finance, to impose taxes on land, cement, fuel, and kerosene under the “Tax Amendment Bill 2024” at the expense of increasing revenue.

Citizens who spoke with tndNews expressed their outrage, describing the move as a suffocation of the country’s economy.

The Bill proposes a 5% withholding tax on gains from the sale of land in cities and municipalities, rental property, and shares in a private company, as specified in Clause 3.

This means that if one sells land for shs10 million, shs500,000 is taxed, and if one sells land for shs20 million, shs1 million is taxed by the government.

According to the Bill, taxpayers must remit this money to URA within 15 days of disposing of the assets or face fines if the tax is not remitted within the specified time frame.

The Bill also proposes imposing an excise duty tax of shs500 per 50kg bag of cement, adhesive, grout, white cement, or lime.

The government has also proposed to impose a 10% or shs75 per liter of kerosene whichever is higher, on mineral water, bottled water and other water purposely for drinking.

The government has proposed imposing a tax on fuel products such as motor spirit (gasoline) at a rate of shs1550 per litre, petrol oil (automotive, light, amber for high-speed engines) at shs1230 per litre, and illuminating kerosene at shs500 per litre.

Moses Onyait is a vendor from Soroti City. He claims that the bill and proposed taxes are intended to suffocate the business community and the general public while also crippling the country’s economy. He argued that people won’t be able to improve their household economy.

He observes that existing taxes are suffocating citizens, but people are unaware of the value of their tax, as evidenced by poor healthcare, education, and infrastructure services.

Onyait challenges the government to conduct sensitization campaigns because a double tax on fuel, cement, kerosene, and land has a direct negative impact on the average person’s daily life.

The recent protests by traders who have been forced to close their businesses have shed light on the country’s double taxation problem.

When importing goods, Ugandan traders pay exorbitant taxes. This includes a 30% import tax, 6% withholding tax, 18% VAT, 2.5% excise duty, and a 1.5% infrastructure levy.

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This means that traders pay a total of 58% in taxes on the goods they import into the country.

Silver Omer, a farmer from Amuria district, believes that this Bill will harm society, particularly when taxpayers fail to remit the tax as required, resulting in penalties and rift action.

According to Omer, such a Bill would back up claims made by opposition leaders that the government has an interest in land ownership in violation of Article 237 of the Constitution, which states that all land in Uganda belongs to Ugandans.

Stephen Osoil, a resident and farmer from Aukot, Soroti district, believes the government should exercise caution when dealing with land taxes because agriculture is the country’s backbone and the source of income for many citizens.

He claims that imposing a direct tax on land transactions endangers the lives of farmers who rely solely on the meagre resources earned from their land, and that such a Bill should be rejected entirely.

He appeals to lawmakers to protect the interests of Ugandan farmers and citizens in policies and laws that severely violate Ugandans’ rights and lives.

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Paul Esogu, Deputy Speaker of the Amuria District Council, warns the government against introducing bills that infringe on local citizens at the expense of revenue growth.

He calls on the government to reduce the number of MPs in Parliament, RDCs, DISOs, and PISOs, which he claims earn money that could be saved to help raise revenue.

Esogu tasked the government to find other ways of revenue collection not double taxing the citizens who are already heavily taxed.

Jonathan Ebwalu, MP of Soroti City West says the Bill has already been gazetted under the “Tax Amendment Bill”.

According to Ebwalu, the Bill is expected to generate revenue beginning in fiscal year 2024/2025 on cementent, kerosene, fuel, and land through a 5% tax on these commodities.

He vows to reject the Bill once brought to Parliament and rallies fellow legislators both in the ruling party and opposition to reject the Bill in its entirety.

Ebwalu claims that the land tax has hidden motives other than taxation, and that the government appears to want to seize land.

By Robert Edwomu