Uganda Revenue Authority misses target by $142m

July 9, 2018 in Finance, Policy by Editor

July 9, 2018—Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) missed its target for financial year 2017/18 by UGX 540 billion (about $142 million) collecting UGX14.46 trillion of the UGX15 trillion ($3.9 billion) the government required.

Akol thanked those who paid their taxes willingly and asked them to continue.

Last year the figure was UGX458 billion, but the tax to GDP ratio during the past 12 months has improved from 14.05 pc to 14.38% pc.

This financial year, which started this month, the finance ministry wants URA to collect a total of UGX16.4 trillion ($4.3 billion), UGX15.9 trillion in tax revenue and UGX420 billion in non-tax revenue. Once again, the Authority will be at the centre of pulling teeth while at the same time trying to charm people to pay their dues.

Commissioner General , Doris Akol said in a statement recently, the year had been a challenging one due to high interest and exchange rates and a constantly depreciating shilling. This affected the cost of imports, private sector business plans, aggregate demand and manufacturing productivity due to higher costs of imported inputs.

Currently, the Uganda shilling is trading in the UGX3800 to UGX4000 range across different selling points in and around Kampala.

Akol appreciated the efforts by the Ugandan tax payers who have willingly paid their taxes and encouraged them to continue supporting URA so that the government can provide public services.

“This wouldn’t have been possible without your support. As URA, we appreciate all those that have paid their taxes willingly and also ask you to do the same in this coming year so that we are able to meet our goals” she says.