President Yoweri Museveni is a top cattle keeper in the country/Courtesy photo
The Otuke County MP, Paul Omara has proposed a tax on animal sales. Omara made the proposal as the Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) officials led by Commissioner General, John Rujoki Musinguzi appeared before Parliament’s Finance Committee.
He said URA should consider generating revenue from taxing the animal sales. He noted that rich Ugandans have accumulated wealth from cows yet they do not pay taxes.
“I know those who have cows but don’t pay taxes, so you haven’t come with tax on animal sales. People have 100, 1000, 2000, 3000 heads of cows but they aren’t paying any tax. If all of us have to change this country, we must pay taxes. So why have you not introduced taxes on animals?” Omara said.
He added: “I know the President is the biggest seller of animals; we must pay taxes because for us in Lango, before Sun flower enters the factory, the cooperatives are taxed. So those having animals must pay taxes. People who are selling should pay taxes.”
However, the State Minister Finance in charge of General Duties said that taxes are levied based on principles like enforceability, saying that taxes on animals are not easy.
He said that it’s difficult to assess who is selling a cow for business purposes or for commercial benefit.
Musasizi asked MP Omara to drop his proposal to have a tax on cows and told him that if he does not have cows, he should consider joining the business because it’s not taxed.
The 2020 data from Ministry of Agriculture and the Uganda Bureau of Statistics showed that Uganda had 14.2 million cattle, 16 million goats, 4.5 million sheep, 47.6 million poultry and 4.1 million pigs.
