Makindye Ssaabagabo Municipality is to use the local council chairperson to collect data on taxpayers in order to increase local revenue.
Speaking to the URN, the Makindye Municipality Deputy Town Clerk Henry Ssemakula said the local council one chairpersons are to register residents by what they do so as to determine who should pay which tax.
The chairpersons are also to take municipal officials to their areas to see the registered residents who are supposed to pay taxes such as the property tax for rentals. This he says, is to increase the tax revenue and widen the tax base because the chairmen know the people who reside in their areas and the jobs they do.
According to Ssemakula, these chairpersons are to also monitor buildings in their areas and to determine who builds in the area and if they have approved plans. The chairmen are to ensure that those who build illegally without plans are reported to the municipality.Kayima Vicent Bunamwaya the Local council chairman for Bunamwaya Ngobe village says that in the last term of office, because the local councils were not involved in mobilization of data on taxes, very little revenue was collected as there was opposition to property tax by the populace.
He says if LC chairpersons are involved in the tax mobilization more revenue will be raised because the chairmen know the people in their areas. The chairpersons have the ability to know who has paid and to teach people the benefits of paying the tax so as to get them to pay the tax willingly.
According to Kayima, the local council chairmen are to monitor all buildings being set up in their areas and as soon as they are complete, negotiate taxes with the owners instead of having a set block fee because properties vary in size and revenue they raise.
He says that after the taxes are determined through negotiation the municipality is alerted by the chairman on how much the individual has to pay using WhatsApp, then the person pays the tax through the bank to prevent tax avoidance and theft of the revenue.
The local council chairpersons will be given 25% of the collections from their areas according to the Local government act which they are to use to run activities in these villages.
The revenue collected from taxes is to be used to construct schools, roads, public toilets, markets, pay councilors allowances, facilitate technical officers such as agricultural officers in the field, and more.
Kibirige Musisi, the chairman for Kisigula village says that the chairmen know the challenges their people are facing and can easily convince them to pay without use of force. They will move with municipality officials door to door negotiating with people owning rentals to determine how much each individual pays.
–URN
