Traders under their umbrella body, Kampala City Traders Association (KACITA) have asked government to declare that the three months of COVID-19 induced lockdown a loss to the entire economy so that no rent obligation will be accrued to tenants.
The revelation was made by KACITA Spokesperson, Issa Sekito (pictured) today while appearing before Parliament’s Committee on National Economy headed by former Finance Minister Syda Bbumba.
He added that the rental income tax obligations for the three months should be waived so that it becomes their credit against the forfeited rent.
“Why we think this is possible [is that] for every bank to give you money, forget about collateral; the most important thing is cash flow. Therefore, if I can’t have my cash flow (in order), what is it am I going to pay for even if you restructured my loan?” he said
John Kakungulu, the Executive Director at Federation Of Small And Medium Sized Enterprises said that they would want government to clear all domestic arrears to enable the most hit business utilize this money to keep afloat.
On his part, Charity Kiyemba, the Secretary of Uganda Alcohol Association noted that starting July 2020, manufacturers are expected to start paying for digital tax stamps, a thing she said will negatively affect their businesses.
Kiyemba said that companies involved in brewing alcohol will be required to pay 15 billion to meet the digital stamps expenditure, noting that once this is done, they will transfer the bills to the consumer.
She added that the last time taxes were increased on beer, the consumption reduced by 72%. She asked government to continue bearing the cost of implementing digital tax stamps.
