Africa-Press – Uganda. The Lyantonde District leadership is considering introducing tax on raw milk as one way of boosting local revenue.
Mr Fred Muhangi, the Lyantonde District Chairperson said the district is still stuck with the challenge of low local revenue yet there is increasing demand for services.
During the last financial 2022/2023, the district collected Shs163 million from local revenue out of the projected Shs190 million.
“Targeting only cattle markets for revenue, which are at times affected by the quarantines imposed in the area following outbreaks of diseases such as Foot -and -Mouth Disease (FMD) is no longer sustainable. We are looking at other sources of revenue,” he said during an interview on October 21.
“For instance, if a fee of Shs100 is introduced on every litre of raw milk it would be a big boost to the local revenue,” Mr Muhangi noted.
This financial year [2023/2024] Lyantonde projected to collect at least Shs 210 million in local revenue, but Mr Muhangi is pessimistic that they will not get this money if several strategies are not put up to widen their tax base.
Mr Moses Byarugaba, the Lyantonde District speaker said that the district can not do much with the little revenue currently being collected. He said that it is high time they looked for alternative ways of getting more funds if they are to improve service delivery in the district.
“The district is stuck with the challenge of a poor road network and we can’t get sufficient funds from the government to work on these roads yet the trucks that carry milk from farms use the same roads, are not taxed,” he added.
Mr Ismail Nsubuga, the Lyantonde District Chief Administrative Officer, said the introduction of the Integrated Revenue Administration System (IRAS) is going to improve collection of revenue.
He explained that previous revenue collection systems were inefficient with individuals pocketing the taxes since there were no proper ways of tracking the revenue from the source to the district coffers .
IRAS is an online and mobile application platform to enable local governments and cities collect revenue through registration, assessment, billing, payment awareness raising for taxpayers, and connecting residents to local governments.
Mr Nsubuga said they expect to collect more revenue this financial year because of the strategies put in place.
Lyantonde District budget is largely supported by dairy farmers and according to Kabula Farmers’ Cooperative Society Ltd data, the largest livestock farmers group, it collects over 50,000 litres of milk daily during dry spells and over 70,000litres during rainy season. This makes it the leading dairy cooperative society in the district with 600 dairy farmers .
Other cooperative societies are Twimukye Dairy Farmers in Kasagama Sub- County, Kyenshama Dairy Farmers among others.
According to the National Population & Housing Census, 2014, out of the total population of 93,753 people in Lyantonde District,11,806 (57.2percent) are engaged in livestock farming.
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