Arua city council projects to collect over 2.3 billion shillings from property rates after the approval of the draft property valuation roll, a legal document that consists of property information of all the registered properties within the city.
The approval follows the property valuation exercise that was carried between February and June last year by Arua city with the support of USAID under the Domestic Revenue Mobilization for development Activity.
According to the draft property valuation roll, a total of 7,230 properties have been assessed in the city to be taxed in the next five years. Of these 4,048 properties assessed are from Ayivu division, while the remaining 3, 182 are from Arua central division.
Moses Adriko, the Arua city secretary of finance says that the expected revenues from the property rate will greatly boost their local revenue envelope. According to Adriko, upon the final approval by the ministry of local government, the new property rate will be implemented for the next five years.
Meanwhile, Milly Inzikuru Millicent, the Arua city deputy mayor explains that, the roll out of the property rate while lessen the struggles of the city in local revenue mobilization.
In the 2022/2023 financial year, Arua City projected to collect over 3.02 billion shillings as local revenue but the city encounters a revenue shortfall of about 24 million shillings according to the Auditor general report for the half of this financial year.
According to James Adiga, the councilor representing Ayivu central to the city council, there is need for the city authorities to commence massive sensitization of taxpayers on the benefits of paying taxes promptly, before the final approval of the valuation roll.
Recently, Arua city council approved 5 percent as the ratable value of a property as guided by the Local Government Property Rating Act 2006. Section 3(1) of the Local Government Rating Act, provides that every local government shall levy such rates as it may determine on the basis of the ratable value of any property within its jurisdiction.
Property tax is a tax payable by owners of property within a local government jurisdiction in Uganda and is based on the assessment of retable value determined by a valuation surveyor approved under the laws of Uganda.
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