Can Uganda raise more tax revenue?
Taxes are the life blood without which governments are unable to sustain government expenditures for service delivery. The overall tax morale in a given country is driven by the citizenry’s expectations about the state of service delivery. Taxes, therefore, represent an important contract between the government and the citizens by giving citizens a stronger stake in what their government does and a stronger incentive to demand accountability. Uganda’s tax system is comparable to global benchmarks. Income and corporate tax rates in Uganda are 30 percent; value added tax rate is 18 percent; and import duty rate is 25 percent of the import value. The major tax handles are: 1) direct domestic taxes – including pay as you earn; corporation tax, withholding tax, tax on bank interest, casino tax, and other incomes taxes 2) indirect domestic taxes including excise duty, value added tax 3) taxes on international trade 4) and Fees and licenses. One major challenge facing policy makers in Ug