Members of the Budget Committee of parliament have urged government to consider non-taxed areas and those with revenue leakages as a way of raising revenue.
The proposals have been made during the committee’s interaction with officials from the Ministry of Finance led by the State Minister, Hon. Henry Musasizi.
Their concerns stem from the budgetary gaps that have kept key priorities unfunded for years.
Led by the Chairperson, Hon. Patrick Isiagi, the committee has asked government to recoup the revenue collections from the Entebbe Express Road toll, which they say Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) has failed to collect.
MPs say that the express way collects Shs3 billion per month but only Shs.7 billion annual revenue has been declared to the committee.
Hon. Geoffrey Ekanya , Tororo County North MP says, “for the express highway, billions have been collected but URA has failed to account for that money yet the law requires that all revenue should be remitted .”
He adds that there are leakages in revenue collections especially in the gaming and lottery and mining sectors including others especially in procurement such as vehicles.
The committee emphasizes the need to tax gold saying it is the leading foreign exchange earner whose tax exemption they do not support.
Hon. Paul Omara, the Otuke County representative, notes “before we passed the Mining and Mineral Act 2022, URA indicated that it was able to collect only Shs3 billion out of the Shs.45 billion tax arrears from gold miners.”
“We are saying this is the highest foreign exchange earner and we are getting no revenue to government; who owns these gold refineries?” he asked.
Omara also asks the ministry to recover all taxes that were not paid by Bujagali Energy Ltd amounting to US$63 million during the first five years of development of the project, and US$342 million for overpaid fees as per the forensic audit by the Auditor General.
Legislators also have not spared what they describe as unprofitable operations of Uganda Airlines that government plans to finance for 20 years.
Musasizi admits that there are plans to expand development financing options.
“Government is taking steps to leverage additional financing from innovative resources. We are in the process of implementing the Public Investment Financing Strategy which should ensure debt sustainability,” Musasizi says.
The Minister has also revealed that the public debt stands at Shs.86.3 trillion adding that the Shs.96 trillion from the Office of the Auditor General could include domestic arrears which stand at Shs.2.7 trillion.
