KAMPALA, UGANDA: For the first time in years, no new taxes will be introduced in the next Financial Year 2022/23 as sectors such as security, health, and transport scoop major allocations.
This was revealed by the Minister of Finance, Planning, and Economic Development Hon Matia Kasaija as he presented the Shs 48.13 trillion 2022/23 National budget on Tuesday, June 14, 2022, at Kololo ceremonial grounds in Kampala.
This year’s budget ran under the theme; ” Full Monetisation of Uganda’s Economy through Commercial Agriculture, Industrialisation, Expanding and Broadening Services, Digital Transformation and Market Access.”
In the Sh 48 trillion budget, government expects to generate up to 30.8 trillion of this money locally, of which 23.75 trillion is expected from tax collections. Externally, the finance minister said sh6.7 trillion, of which sh4.6trillion will be from loans and the rest from grants.
According to Kasaija, government will achieve revenue targets by improving the efficiency in tax collection and enhancing compliance to tax laws further emphasizing that the capacity of the Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) will be enhanced by recruiting and training staff and deploying appropriate equipment and ICT to enforce tax laws.
“I wish to report that Parliament has made amendments to the various tax laws intended to simplify, clarify previously ambiguous provisions and close loopholes that may lead to revenue leakage. The amendments that have been made are in the Income Tax Act, Value Added Tax, the Stamp Duty Act and the Tax Procedures Act,” said Minister Kasaija.
Biggest Allocations Per Sector
In the biggest shares highlighted in the budget, Security earned up to Sh3.9 trillion towards the improvement of security infrastructure in the country through securing national borders, purchase of CCTV cameras, pacifying the Karamoja sub region among others.
Sh1.059 trillion has don’t other hand been allocated toward the implementation of the Parish Development Model with the Minister saying the money will go directly to the lower local governments to support households’ efforts to graduate from subsistence to commercial farming.
The minister explained that each one of the 10594 parishes in the country will get a revolving fund of Shs 100 million to fund the purchase of agricultural inputs by households still in subsistence.
The Transport Sector, which has perennially taken the lion’s share in the previous budgets has been allocated Shs 4.3 Trillion. The money will be going into the construction of 400km of new roads, 30 bridges as well as the rehabilitation of 900 km district roads and 162 local government roads.
Under this sector, the government will also heavily support the Uganda Airlines which is expected to launch direct flights to London and China in this Financial Year.
The education sector has been allocated Shs 4.14 trillion while the Ministry of Health is taking Shs 3.722 trillion
Minister Kasaija announced that as Uganda gradually shakes of the Covid19 shocks, the national economy is expected to grow at a rate of 6.5% per annum in the medium term, citing some of the key indicators for improved growth such as the Business tendency index which has increased by 20.8% and the Purchasing manager’s index which increased by 48.8%
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