Stove manufacturers ask government for tax incentives
Monitor Publications Ltd managing director, Mr Tony Glencross (R ) and the State Minister for Environment Ms Mary Kitutu (2ndR) talk to one of the exhibitors during the Uganda Climate Change symposium 2017 in Kampala on October 26. PHOTO BY ALEX ESAGALA
What you need to know:
- Improved cook stoves save up to 40-50 percent of charcoal an ordinary three-stone stoves. This argument has been advanced as a core to reducing deforestation in a country that over 90 percent of households use charcoal.
- Uganda continues to face high levels of deforestation that threatens the existence of not only protected forests but also privately owned forests.
KAMPALA.
Improved cook stove manufacturers have asked government for tax incentives to help them make their products cheaper.
Speaking at the second clean cooking Baraza in Kampala organsied by their Uganda National Alliance on Clean Cooking (UNACC), the manufactures say incentivizing them through tax holidays just like other businesses will help reduce their financial burden as far as doing business in Uganda is concerned.
“That would help make the stoves cheaper,” Mr Nolbert Muhumuza, a member of UNACC said at the meeting.
The baraza run under the theme: “Tax regulations affecting the clean cooking sector: Value Added Tax (VAT) and import duty, income tax, Pay As You Earn (PAYE) and withholding tax”
However, Ms Justine Akumu, an energy officer at the ministry of Energy, said government scrapped taxes on solar equipment about two years ago and had done the same on liquid gas but later realised that the exemptions were benefiting a few people.
“There must be big numbers to show to government that tax emptions would benefit many,” Ms Akumu said.
A ministry of Energy survey done in 2010 that aimed at ascertaining the uptake of improved cook-stoves in Uganda revealed that 8.5 percent of households in Uganda use improved stoves as compared to 69.1percent who use of traditional three stone fire. Another 19, the survey revealed, use open charcoal stove.
Improved cook stoves save up to 40-50 percent of charcoal an ordinary three-stone stoves. This argument has been advanced as a core to reducing deforestation in a country that over 90 percent of households use charcoal.
The meeting was organized by Uganda National Alliance on Clean Cooking (UNACC) and supported by World Wildlife Fund (WWF).
Uganda continues to face high levels of deforestation that threatens the existence of not only protected forests but also privately owned forests. Last month, a ministry of Water and Environment sector review indicated that Uganda has only 9 percent forest cover.
