Africa-Press – Uganda. Kalungu District councillors have protested the proposed charging of property tax in sub-counties, saying the taxes are exorbitantly high for rural landlords.
During a district council meeting chaired by the deputy district speaker, Ms Dorothy Nakitende, on Monday, the district vice chairperson, Mr Gerald Kiggundu, presented a charging draft policy, with a proposal to extend levying of property tax in sub-counties.
Under the new arrangement, the district wants to levy a property tax of 8 percent extended to the four sub-counties of Bukulula, Lwabenge, and Kalungu.
According to Mr Kiggundu, under the old arrangement, only the town councils; Kalungu, Kyamulibwa, and Lukaya, were targeted for property tax.
“We want to widen our tax base and under the new proposal, the district council is taking up the role of setting and harmonising property rates, a uniform rate will now be charged in the entire district, including the sub-counties,” he said.
Currently, building owners in Kalungu Town Council pay property tax at 10 percent, while those in Kyamulibwa pay 8 percent.
A section of councillors led by Mr Rashid Kwaba, who represents Kalungu Town Council, said it’s unfair to have a uniform rate in the district since some sub-counties have few buildings that qualify to pay property tax. He also reasoned that the targeted sub-counties are still rural and have not developed to the level of charging landlords property tax.
“Asking owners of buildings in sub-counties to pay property tax at 8 percent is unfair, it is likely to force owners of the buildings to increase the rent which will scare away tenants,” he said.
He instead advised Mr Kiggundu to take the proposal back to the district finance and planning committee for further discussions.
A couple of weeks ago, the district presented its 2024/25 financial year budget of Shs36. 3 billion with a lion’s share of Shs19.2 billion allocated to social services and education, while agriculture got Shs2.3 billion, and roads Shs1.6b.
Background
According to the 2014 National Housing and Population Census report, of the 41,405 households in Kalungu, 39,859 (96.3 percent) live in houses constructed using permanent roof materials while 21,307 (51.5 percent) sleep in semi-permanent houses and another 1,387 (3.3percent) reside in temporary houses.
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