While addressing the DP weekly press conference, party spokesperson Opio Okoler Lo Amanu said government needs to inject money in strategies that will increase the country’s tax base or it will just be throwing good money after bad.
Government put the 'cart before the horse' on priorities - DP on budget
The Democratic Party (DP) has urged government to put first things first by getting its priorities straight in allocating funds and immediately embark on drafting budgets that do not only focus on borrowing and spending, thereby sinking the country in a deeper quandary than it finds itself already.
“The government should fund strategies aimed at increasing the country’s tax base from one million taxpayers so that we are able to finance at least 80% of our annual budget locally and a deliberate move to heavily invest in agriculture can easily widen our tax base,” Okoler said.
The DP spokesperson said government continues chasing its tail on what needs to be done as evidenced by what was captured in the report on the annual budget estimates, as a result the government continues to put the cart before the horse on its priorities.
“Agriculture which supports over 80 percent of our population was given only 2.64% of the total budget,” Okoler said.
“Uganda is a party to the Maputo Declaration which enjoins countries to allocate at least 10 percent of their annual budgets to agriculture, government has disregarded this declaration made in 2003.”
DP also advised that borrowing from domestic sources should be avoided like the plague because it increases the interest on borrowed money which tends to pile on even more of financial burden on the business community.
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