The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Uganda Revenue Authority collected taxes to the tune of 13.5 trillion Shilling from July, 2018 to April 2019, according to the ministry of Finance April performance of the economy report. This translates into a 365.5billion surplus from the target that the tax body was expected to collect at this time.
The ministry report also shows that tax revenue collections during the month amounted to 1.3 trillion Shillings, reflecting 100.1 per cent performance.
“This was mainly due to the performance of direct domestic taxes which were above target by 16.2 per cent arising from withholding tax and corporate tax,” the report said.
Meanwhile, grants, money sent by donors to support the government, were below target at only 24.1 per cent of the programmed 162.2 billion Shillings. But the good performance of the direct domestic taxes is an indicator the economy is looking up. The government says this financial year the economy will grow above 6 per cent.
Also, the report indicates that more businesses are taking up loans, an indicator that they are optimistic about the future.
However, between May and June, URA is still expected to collect at least 2. 5 trillion Shillings to reach the 16 trillion target for the 2018/19 financial year.
URA’s current performance gives government confidence that the body will collect the 20trillion target for the 2019/2020 financial year to help finance a 40.5 trillion Shillings budget.
Patrick Ocailap the Deputy Secretary to the Treasury told a meeting at Sheraton hotel last week, that they expected the URA to hit its target this financial. “You might have noticed how URA is coming to you, [aggressively] urging to pay,” he said.
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