URA to improve efficiencies to achieve Shs 25 trillion revenue target

John Musinguzi, the URA Commissioner General, revealed this in his keynote address at the Post Budget Conference 2022 held at Hotel Africana on Monday.

Musinguzi says URA will throw its weight behind being more efficient, transparent and accountable in its work.

“We are deliberately promoting accountability amongst all our staff guided by the values of patriotism, integrity and professionalism. Our target was Shs 22.4 trillion and we are optimistic that together, we are going to achieve it come June 30th 2022. As of today we are 20.5 trillion, we need only about 2 trillion to finish the year successfully,” he said.

According to Musinguzi, the new budget has several economic recovery opportunities of key benefit to formalised businesses.

Ministry of finance take

The permanent secretary in the Ministry of Finance, Ramadhan Ggoobi, said the government altered the budgeting principles, doing away the incremental principle apportioning and restricting money in non-priority areas.

“We are committed as a government to making sure businesses recover so that they can be able to give the government taxes, employ people and also make money for themselves. The president told you we are at the entrance of the middle-income status. Some people are wondering if we really are there. Middle income doesn’t mean that your life would change a lot,” he said.

Ggoobi extrapolated that the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is likely to rise to shs174 trillion by the end of next year, adding that URA should increase revenue mobilisation without hemming in the business sector.

“We have given URA a task to collect Shs 25.6 trillion. This is the highest amount of tax revenue Uganda has ever collected, and we are collecting it in a very difficult year. We don’t want to see new tax rates falling on the same people already paying taxes,” he said.

He revealed that the government will borrow Shs 5 trillion internally and Shs 9.3 trillion externally not for budget support but to implement key programs.