President Museveni Refutes Traders' Claims That Uganda Has Too Many Taxes

The President Museveni's meeting with Traders yesterday Tuesday 7th May 2024 left many traders thinking about the next move after their effort to have the president ban EFRIS met a snug. 

Traders meeting with the president follows a protest of business people ind the central business district and some other parts of the country over what they called unfair taxes imposed on them by the tax body Uganda Revenue Authority(URA) and the unfair implementation of the Electronic Fiscal Receipting and Invoicing Solution (EFRIS).

EFRIS is an automated compliance process established by URA which aims at handling the allocation and centralizes tracing of all invoices and receipts by specified taxpayers in Uganda.

According to President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, the policy of the governmet on taxes is quite deliberate and they normally don't tax what builds Uganga and if taxes, they impose a smaller tax.

The Chairperson of the Federation of Uganda's Traders Association (FUTA) John Kabanda reported to the president some ministers whom he said front to the president fake investors who enjoy tax holidays yet in turn compete with the traders in the same Market.

''Your Excellency,we are in loans because of high taxes, even EFRIS is not fair .It's not meant for us traders but manufacturers who seem to appreciate it operation".

Thadeus Musoke Agenda, the Kampala City Traders Association (KACITA) Chairperson reported to the president that KACITA has a slot on the Presidential CEO Forum but are not allowed to contribute in anyway on that Forum which he said is the root cause of the collapse of many businesses.

On the same meeting ,the KACITA spokesperson Issa Ssekito decried the EFRIS which he said has no appeal provision on the URA portal.

"There is no good law in the whole world without an appeal mechanism ".Said Ssekitto.

The chairperson of United Arcade Traders Enterprenuers Association (UATEA) Edward Ntale outcried the unfavourable requirements conditions for Uganda to setup local industries for value addition.

Godfrey Katongole the FUTA vice chairperson urged the president to ensure that taxes are are standardized so as business people can pay the genuinely .He also asked the president to establish a desk where traters can lodge their problems and accused some ministers of selving their challenges.

In response president Museveni refuted the traders claims that there are too many taxes in Uganda saying that he decided to discuss taxes issue with the traders.

President Museveni also informed traders that the Import tax is only for those who import goods to Uganda.