The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Nakasongola, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Authorities in Nakasongola district have embarked on a process to update their tax database so as to enhance revenue collection and fight corruption.
Nakasongola district collected 539 million Shillings during the financial year 2019/2020 and close to 800 million Shillings by March 2021, far below the estimated collection of 1.3 billion Shillings. The district targets to increase its revenue to one billion Shillings in the financial year 2021/2022.
But the Chief Administrative Officer Alex Felix Majeme says that the district has been collecting less revenue because estimates were based on guesswork. Majeme says that they have now deployed parish and sub county chiefs to collect data on all revenue sources within their localities so that they come up with a district tax database before July.
Majeme is optimistic that the tax base will help them to get scientific evidence on how much they can collect and take necessary measures to realize the money.
Nakasongola district chairman Sam Kigula says the tax database will help to fight leakages and hold officers accountable in case they fail to meet targets of revenue collections. Kigula says that in the past, some chiefs had undeclared revenue collections while some of the money was embezzled, yet the district couldn’t detect it over lack of proper data on sources.
A report by Nakasongola district finance committee, signed by Robert Ssemuddu observed that the district had not realized enough taxes from sources that include fishing, government employees and milk production among others.
The committee recommended that the district charges a tax of 500 Shillings per jerrycan of milk and an operation fee on milk coolers. The committee also recommended that traders dealing in charcoal, firewood and poles be charged between 60,000-105,000 Shillings per quarter. It also recommended increased supervision and compilation of a tax database.
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