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URA Sh500bn short of target but collects 12.7 trilltion- 13% growth in revenue for FY2016/17
Kampala, Uganda | JULIUS BUSINGE | Uganda Revenue Authority has today officially released its revenue performance for FY2016/17 indicating a 13.2% growth in revenue collection compared to the year before.
According to the revenue performance report, Shs 12.7 trillion was collected against a target of Shs 13.1 trillion. This means the tax body recorded about Shs 500 bn as shortfall.
The report indicates that the overall net revenue collections have averaged at 16.6% growth during the past three financial years. The tax-to-GDP ratio has increased from 12.3% in FY2014/15 to 14.0% in FY2016/17, hence registering an increase of 1.7% over the three years period. In particular, the tax to GDP ratio in FY2016/17 has grown by 0.55%, according to the report.
Doris Akol, the Commissioner General for URA said that 82% of the revenue shortfall was contributed by customs.
Table 1: Revenue generating variables
| FY
2014/15 |
FY
2015/16 |
FY 2016/17 | Growth rate | |
| Net revenue (UGX Bn) | 9,715.6 | 11,230.87 | 12,719.63 | 13.26% |
| Tax to GDP Ratio (%) | 12.3 | 13.5 | 14.05 | 0.54% |
| Tax to Budget (%) | 64.59 | 66.79 | 62.26 | -4.54% |
| Tax register(No.) | 763,150 | 902,339 | 1,029,542 | 14.10% |
| Value clients(No.) | 147,797 | 176,942 | 492,648 | 178.42% |
Source: URA Databases, & UBOS 2017
“Most of the top import yielding items registered a decline in volumes during the year,”Akol said.
She added that limited access to credit during the year negatively affected trade volumes especially in manufacturing and wholesale and retail construction sectors which are the main revenue generators for both domestic and international taxes. For instance, she said, import values in USD were expected to grow at 9.1% but registered a growth of 7.1% during the year.
Generally, the poor performance of the economy was partly to blame for the revenue shortfall. GDP growth was expected to grow at 5% but only managed to record 3.9%.
Going forward, Akol said the tax body would focus on implementing measures that would improve the culture of tax paying by all tax payers.
This years revenue performance report was released with the theme; Making progress towards cultivating a tax paying culture.
URA Year 2016-17 Revenue Figures
URA Year 2016-17 Revenue Figures by The Independent Magazine on Scribd
Video from the presser
