A group of petitioners led by the Kampala City Traders Association (KACITA), which includes the traders in different arcades and shops in Kampala, have called for Parliament’s intervention in the taxation system enforced by the Uganda Revenue Authority (URA).

The KACITA leader, Thaddeus Musoke, stated that the penalties in the E-Policy system and the approach that URA is using in implementing the policy are totally discouraging, adding that the traders have rejected the system.

Musoke made these remarks on April 9, 2024, while meeting the Leader of Opposition in Parliament (LOP), Joel Ssenyonyi at Parliament regarding the taxation system of the Electronic Fiscal Receipting and Invoicing Solution (EFRIS) and other grievances.

According to Musoke, the traders need more time for engagement and sensitization about the VAT that is being imposed on them by the URA.

“The calculations about the VAT have complicated the business operation and increased the cost of doing business. If the government can reduce a lot of taxes, it can increase business,” Musoke said.

He further raised a concern about the over Ugx 200 billion that the government allocated for business recovery, which the traders’ did not have access to. Musoke, therefore, called upon the government to come in and facilitate business to ease economic recovery.

However, Ssenyonyi asked the URA to look into this matter by being concerned about the local operator rather than focusing on the foreign investors.

He further emphasized that the traders don’t understand the tax policy, which is complicating matters for them. He said that traders will require smartphones and the internet, adding that when it is hard, they will evade the taxes. Ssenyonyi, therefore, urged URA to keep engaging these traders, even if it means meeting them every week.

This follows the Kampala traders’ protest on Monday, April 8, 2024, over what they called the unfair URA taxation policy, and most of the arcades and malls in the city remained closed.