KAMPALA. Kampala City Traders’ Association (Kacita) has called for a shutdown of businesses starting next Wednesday protesting a directive by Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) to imprison importers who undervalue or falsely declare imports.

In a meeting held in Kampala yesterday, the traders protested the directive saying many times the said faults are a result of “mistakes” and that the tax body resorting to imprisonment of their members, will wash away the current good relations between the tax payers and the collectors. “The traders are not against paying taxes but you cannot arrest someone for undervaluing as a first resort yet sometimes it is by mistake,” Mr Everisto Kayondo, the association chairperson, said yesterday in Kampala.
He added: “We have called for a meeting with URA but in vain. So far, five members have been arrested and are out of prison.”

The traders concerns come at a time when URA is struggling to meet revenue targets.
In collection statistics released last week, the revenue body collected Shs2.46 trillion in the first three months of the financial year from July 2015, short of the Shs2.5 trillion targets over the same period.
Speaking to Daily Monitor yesterday, URA spokesperson Sarah Banage confirmed that URA had indeed issued the directive and is waiting on the traders to bring their position on the matter for discussion.
To avert a repeat of 2013 where traders closed businesses over Pre-import Verification of Conformity to Standards programme (PIVOC) after it become clear counterfeits and substandard products had become a menace, traders anonymously chose Mr Gideon Badagawa, the executive director of Private Sector Foundation Uganda, to cause a meeting between URA and traders to avert a strike.
Mr Badagawa said he would engage tax body and bring feedback to Kacita members as a matter of urgency and avoid protests that could be misconstrued.
Source: Daily Monitor

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