URA Commissioner General Dorothy Akol says every public holiday translates into Shs30b lost revenue
As you cheer the government for every new public holiday confirmed, there is at least one organisation in Uganda is cursing—and that organisation is the one entrusted with collecting taxes. Public holidays cost the Uganda Revenue Authority approximately Shs500 billion in tax losses in the last one year, according to URA Commissioner General Doris Akol. The head of the tax body revealed every day the government confirmed as a public holiday in the financial year concluded in June translated into a Shs30 billion loss.
Uganda has 14 standard public holidays, and these include religious, national and select internationally celebrated days. This year, however, that number swelled to 17 with three more days gazetted as public holidays because of the presidential and parliamentary elections held in February and the local council elections held in March, as well as the swearing-in ceremony held in May. The total loss attributed to those public holidays comes to just over Shs500 billion.
“The election factor, public holidays affected revenue collection. Each holiday cost us Shs30 billion per day,” Ms Akol said during the URA End of Financial Year Press Brief Wednesday. That loss is partly the reason why the tax collector was unable to meet its revenue targets in the 2015/16 Financial Year. Business owners have in the past spoken out against the numerous public holidays, saying they hurt their operations.
URA collected net revenue worth Shs11.2 trillion, against a target of Shs11.63 trillion that government had set for it. While just like last year the tax collector couldn’t meet these revenue targets, it still was able to report an improved revenue performance compared to a year earlier as the body collected an additional Shs1.5 trillion—representing a 15.60% growth in revenue. The URA Commissioner General said the revenue collections funded up to 64% of the national budget.
Ms Akol said exchange rate movements in FY 2015/16 had a net negative effect on International trade leading to a Shs98.89 billion in the last quarter alone. The URA boss revealed that the tax collector has collaborated with government agencies and 34 municipal councils to operate joint offices dubbed One Stop Shops (OSS), meaning taxpayers can now register their business name, acquire trade license and register for taxes under the same roof.