Let govt tax social media so we may have some heaven on earth

I know the increase of taxes is a thorny issue. I am on a fixed budget, and so are you. However, I believe in better service delivery, infrastructure development, good health, good education.

As a citizen, I urge all other Ugandans to support a raise in taxes rather than a cut in services that we all need. Waking up every morning to missed messages, WhatsApp calls, Facebook messages and comments and here comes the very first assignment of the day to fulfil before the rest of the work is being done.
That is considering the time each person sitting in the sitting room at home takes concentrating on their phones pressing buttons. And watching from a distance, you find each of them laughing perhaps tickled by the messages that keep popping up on their screens. Mum and Dad all stuck on their phone, then comes the digital child with their ipad on Twitter or downloading movies on YouTube.

Congratulations, you have just wasted one and a half hours on social media, trading your valuable time in exchange for nothing. This scenario is unique. A picture is worth a thousand words, and a tweet is 140 characters. I have always told one of my friend, a social media corporate fan and a social media influencer, that the 140 characters are helping to create an entire generation of distracted and zoned out individuals. While social media’s original goal was to enhance communication, in reality, it hinders productivity, spreads unreliable and false information, and has significant and negative effects on people’s social life.

Social media serves as the black hole of productivity. Countless studies have shown that students who use social media get a lower score than those who do not engage in social networking. Besides, students who are always on social media are not serious, especially as regards concentrating in their studies. Since the emergence of social media, education standards have gone down.

The reason I support taxing social media is that at least the distraction will reduce. One elite said, “Everybody gets so much information all day long that they lose their common sense.” Social media is a space where information, some false or exaggerated can be spread with the click of a button.

In several recent worldwide tragedies that involved violence, many of the perpetrators were heavily influenced militant terror groups who coordinate their activities using social media.

Uganda’s social media is not regulated hence anyone can use it. Therefore, taxing it will increase our revenue that much needed to finance service delivery. Ugandans using Imo, whatsApp, Facebook, etc, and this is what they should be made to pay for. because it’s over the top.
Michael Woira,
[email protected]