Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) Commissioner General, John R. Musinguzi (pictured above) has said the tax body’s aspiration is to mobilize enough revenue for national development.
He made the remarks during the 2020 Taxpayers’ Appreciation Ceremony held on Friday at Mestil Hotel in Kampala.
“At URA, we have renewed our commitment to leading Uganda to economic self-sufficiency status and we appeal to you all our esteemed taxpayers to commit to take this journey with us,” Musinguzi said.
He added: “We are deliberately reviewing, reforming, and revamping the way we have been working. A number of initiatives have been implemented to enable us transform the way we work and offer a better service to our clients. Over the years, there has been revenue growth year-on-year and we thank God for this achievement.”
However, he explained, despite this growth, Uganda is still unable to fully fund her national expenditure.
The country is currently funding 47% of the national budget and are therefore left to turn to external borrowing which often has a lot of unfavorable terms and conditions, he noted.
Uganda’s Tax to GDP ratio is still at a paltry 13%.
This is below the average sub-Saharan African performance of 16%. Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) average is 34.3%.
Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) average is 23.1%.
Morocco, Seychelles, South Africa and Tunisia are at more than 25% Tax to GDP ratio.
For Uganda to attain self-sufficiency, Musinguzi said, there’s need to at least double the country’s Tax to GDP ratio from the current 13% to 26% which he believes can be attained.
He added that URA is instituting mechanisms through which all qualifying citizens and economic players shall be able to make their fair contribution to the revenue basket and these are all within the ambit of the Domestic Resource Mobilization Strategy.
He said URA is implementing several compliance enhancement initiatives.
For example, URA is encouraging taxpayers to embrace the voluntary disclosure avenue by doing a tax health check and cleaning their tax accounts with the tax body without being penalized.
“We have adopted the use of Alternative Dispute Resolution to amicably resolve tax disputes with taxpayers,” Musinguzi said, adding: “We are also collaborating with various stakeholders in the private sector and government agencies especially in areas of information exchange and system integrations to expand our tax register and accurately assess tax.”
He revealed that URA has also purposed to demystify the tax regime and make it easily understood by everyone, through aggressive and elaborate tax education programs aimed at equipping taxpayers with knowledge of both their rights and obligations.
“We will continue to adopt the use of enabling technologies such as artificial intelligence and data analytics to identify potential revenue, and enhance the support to our taxpayers, use drones in surveillance of our borders, and non-intrusive inspection technologies to facilitate trade. For instance, we have rolled out the Digital Tracking Solution and Electronic Fiscal Receipting and Invoicing System to improve the collection of Local Excise Duty and VAT respectively,” he explained.
He noted that URA is currently revamping its contact center that will enable it to provide real time service support to our clients.
“Coupled with technology, internally, we have equally re-committed ourselves to be more efficient and transparent in what we do. We are deliberately promoting accountability among our Staff,” he said, adding: “Going forward, we will be guided by the values of Patriotism, Integrity, and Professionalism. We have also committed to skilling our staff and building specialized tax capabilities in core business areas such as tax audits, tax investigations, taxation of the digital economy, international taxation, and data analytics to promote revenue generation and enhanced voluntary compliance.”
Taxpayers Appreciated
He thanked the distinguished taxpayers who voluntarily adhered to their tax obligations throughout the financial year 2019/2020.
“We are here today to recognize and appreciate our most compliant taxpayers as our champions in this struggle for economic independence.
We call upon all other taxpayers to emulate you so that we have a critical mass that can transform the nation,” Musinguzi said.
He added: “Your compliance is a testament of your devotion to your country. You are indeed our economic heroes and we celebrate you. I also commend the government for creating a conducive environment and for keeping the economy running particularly for allowing the inflow of goods, encouraging food production and sensitizing the public about the pandemic and the need to observe SOPs.”
He noted that the COVID-19 pandemic has taught us that in every challenge, there is an opportunity.
“At URA we are fully aware of the impact that the pandemic has had on businesses, but also that the solutions to dust ourselves up are within us as a nation. Because of you, and the Government’s efforts, we were able to perform well during the period July –November, 2020 and we cannot thank you enough for making a positive contribution towards developing our Nation by fulfilling your tax obligations,” he said.
