Teso CSOs petition Museveni over MPs tax
MPs amended the Income Tax Act to exempt their allowances from being taxed.
Soroti/Kibuku. Civil society organisations under Teso Anti-Corruption Coalition (TAC) have raised more than 5,000 signatures from the electorate across all constituencies to petition President Musevent against a decision by MPs to amend the Income Tax Act to exempt their allowances from being taxed.
Mr Samuel Arimon, the programme officer TAC, a non-governmental organisation campaigning against corruption, told journalists on Tuesday that the move is worrying, adding that it abuses the tax principle of equity.
He said the proportion of taxation should be commensurate to all citizens regardless of how much one earns, saying since the desire of the civil fraternity in Teso sub-region is to widen the tax base, such a move by the legislators affects service delivery which the communities have long been yearning for.
“By acting that way, the parliamentarians have not represented the interests of the people,” Mr Arimon said.
Meanwhile, residents of Kibuku District have also threatened to protest and stop paying taxes if President Museveni assents to the controversial Bill.
At least 500 locals signed a citizen’s petition to the President asking him to reject the Bill.
Forum for Women in Democracy [FOWODE], the lead petitioner, has embarked on collecting more than five million citizen’s signatures across the country to back the dissatisfaction with the new Bill.
FOWODE focal person, Mr Moses Kagwa, said the 5 million signatures will be used as a benchmark for the local people to voice out their total dismay with their legislator’s decisions. The signing ceremony was held at Kadama Sub-county headquarters yesterday.
“We the undersigned, who constitute the citizens of Uganda from Kibuku District do hereby petition H.E the President not to assent to the Income Tax [Amendment] Bill 2016. If this Bill is passed in its current form, Uganda stands to lose 49.4b annually as revenue from MPs” another resident, Mr James Katama, said while officially signing the petition.
Several concerned residents said given the tremendous financial challenges the government is experiencing, it is shocking that MPs can relinguish their tax responsibility to the rest of us poor citizens by refusing to pay their taxes.
