Following the passing of the Value Added Tax Amendment Bill 2024, the Leader of Opposition in Parliament (LOP), Joel Ssenyonyi, has questioned the government as to when it will address the concerns raised by traders on their request to lower the VAT rates from 18% to 16%.

Ssenyonyi, while presenting during plenary session on May 6, 2024, said that this would be the time in which the government provides a remedy for the situation in order to prevent future strikes within the business community.

“Not long ago, the government told us there was going to be a meeting to harmonize, but this House hasn’t been kept in the loop on what exactly is happening. Now the traders are going to assume that we have now responded to their concerns through this bill, which isn’t the truth,” Ssenyonyi said.

“The government needs to update us. Did we just push the matter of the traders under the rug? We have moved on swiftly because the traders haven’t moved on, and they said if these concerns aren’t addressed, they will protest again. I don’t know whether we want to continue having a back and forth because when they close their shops, the economy is affected,” LOP added.

LOP noted that the government met the traders through their leaders, who aired out their concerns and are now wondering whether their concerns have been worked upon.

“When traders reached out to us as government and as leaders, we understood there were meetings scheduled with the executive, and they had critical concerns, and the assumption they have been having is that this bill (the Value Added Tax Amendment Bill) is a remedy to their concerns. Now, they are wondering the remedies that are exactly coming through because they had certain proposals like VAT being reduced to 16%,” Ssenyonyi said.

On April 20, 2024, President Museveni met with leaders of the business community who had closed shops in protest over various tax-related complaints, especially the implementation of the Electronic Fiscal Receipting and Invoicing Solution (EFRIS) receipt system.