Africa-Press – Uganda. Government has revealed that Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) intends to collect at least Shs31.574 trillion throughout the Financial Year 2024/2025 as revenue, an amount MPs described as too ambitious.
The revenue target was Thursday put before the legislators on the House Committee on Finance steered by Mr Amos Kankunda as the MPs received and scrutinized URA’s 2024/25 budget.
In the opening submission to the lawmakers, the State Minister for Finance in charge of General Duties, Mr Henry Musasizi stated that “the projected revenue collection for 2024/25, is Shs31.574 trillion [reflecting] an increment of Shs1.9 trillion from the current financial year 2023/24 target of Shs29.672 trillion.”
The URA Commissioner General, Mr John Musinguzi is confident that the set targets will be realized because of the performance registered in the FY2022/23.
“The net revenue collection for the FY2022/23 was Shs25,209.05 billion against a target of Shs25,151.57 billion, registering a performance of 100.23 per cent (surplus of Shs57.48 Billion),” Mr Musinguzi told MPs.
According to him, domestic revenue collection was Shs16,425.41 billion against a target of Shs16,188.51 billion, registering a performance of 101.46 per cent (surplus of Shs236.89 Billion).
Last Thursday, Minister Musasizi tabled a set of five fresh tax Bills that if passed in the current form will see government through the Excise Duty proposed to impose Shs500 on each 50Kg bag of Cement, adhesives, grout, white cement or lime. Additionally, gasoline users will pay Shs1,550 tax on every litre, gas oil will have a Shs1,230 tax on each litre while kerosene users will have to incur Shs1,550 per litre bought.
The tax Bills included Excise Duty Amendment Bill 2024; Stamp Duty Amendment Bill 2024; Income Tax Amendment Bill 2024; Value Added Tax Amendment Bill 2024, and Tax Procedures Code Amendment Bill 2024.
Too ambitious?
The targets were however, said to be ‘exaggerated projections’ with lawmakers, including the Amolatar Woman MP Ms Agnes Apea and the Elgon North MP, Mr Gerald Nangoli questioning URA strategy to raise the said target.
“What is new and what is really magical that you are going to do to raise the expectation of this country that you are going to raise additional Shs1.9 trillion? I think that will put us at risk,” Ms Apea wondered.
She added “We are better off maintaining the revenue that we generated last year because after all, we have never seen a year that we have achieved a surplus of 2 per cent. I have a problem of over exaggerating our projections and for me, that is where the problem comes from.”
The same fears were echoed by the committee Vice Chairperson, Ms Jane Avur who stated that “Whereas our annual target revenue collection is about Shs29.6 trillion, up to the first half of the year and later on in the Commissioner General’s report up to the end of the year, we are still at Shs19 trillion.”
“We would like to know as a Committee, what corrective measures have you come up with for us to hit the target come June 2024? Because a lot of activities have been planned by different sectors and a lot of commitments have been made by Government based on that target.”
In his rebuttal, Mr Musasizi said URA will roll out and enforce electronic receipting and invoicing solution.
According to tax body boss, “the objective of this reform is to ensure that taxpayers are able to keep clear records, file returns in a timely manner and they are able to efficiently assess their VAT. I call upon every Ugandan to support this cause.”
He also disclosed that URA will enforce the Digital Tracking Solutions (DTS), rental tax solutions and also implement tax administrative measures which will include “carrying out audits, arrears recovery, use of non-intrusive inspection, use of scanners at all borders among others.”
URA cries for more salaries
Elsewhere, Mr Musinguzi indicated that at least Shs169.10 billion is required to implement “structural review and recruitment of 1,436 new staff to majorly improve the footprint of tax collectors,” in the incoming Financial Year.
“We are also setting up a small unit to monitor the tax expenditures and improve the supervision in that area. So out of the proposed numbers for structural review, our prayer is that in the next financial year the entire structural review requires Shs169 billion but our prayer is to do 60 percent in the first year, and then 40 percent in the following year so that in two years, we are able to implement the recommended and approved new structure that will improve efficiency and tax collection,” he said.
Mr Musinguzi noted that in the 2024/25 allocation “URA suffered a budget cut of Shs55.73 on wage,” something that will heavily impede the desired performance and targets of the entity.
He therefore, requested for the “reinstatement of this amount since the allocated amount will not be able to cater for the current staff numbers.”
“Our prayer is that this cut is reinstated because if it is maintained, the gap that will be created will not cover the current staff on the payroll. The cut was bigger than the gap, so we pray for reinstatement of this cut,” Mr Musinguzi said.
He added: “There were delays in the recruitment process to cover the gap, but they have been sorted out and by close of this Financial Year, the existing structure will be filled. And as you see along, we are asking for additional support to cover the other areas and bring efficiency on board.”
This is because the government’s “ultimate desired goal is to achieve a tax-to-GDP ratio of at least 18 per cent as per the Domestic Revenue Mobilisation Strategy (DRMS).”
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