PHOTO CREDITS: Daily Monitor
By
Ismail Musa Ladu
Ms Rita Kabwoho’s dream of building a successful business may not be fulfilled, unless some tax regimes and policies are changed for the better.
The cross border trader spends between 60 to 70 per cent of her proceeds on paying taxes and numerous related charges.
Many of the taxes Ms Kabwoho is complaining about emanate from erratic valuation determined by tax officials or people purported to be working for tax authorities.
This explains why each time she exports or imports any product/produce across the border she is subjected to different charges.
According to Ms Kabwoho, such unexplained taxes and related charges deprive budding women entrepreneurs of the opportunity to grow their business beyond small scale.
This explains why even after years of doing cross border trading between Uganda and Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Ms Kabwoho, like many cross border women traders, still lives from hand to mouth.
“It is about orders to pay for revenue and charges I don’t comprehend,” Ms Kabwoho narrates to Daily Monitor hours before the recent ground-breaking ceremony for the construction Border Export Zone (Market) and One Stop Border Post (OSBP) at Mpondwe in Kasese district.
She continued: “All we are asking for is some help in terms of tax harmonisation if not reduction.”
Ms Kabwoho predicament cuts across the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise (MSMEs) sector.
For example, the fate of Ms Sofia Nantongo, a city salonist rests on the hands of the taxman. With Covid-19 depleting her capital and accumulated savings, the last thing she wants to hear is a knock on the door by the taxman.
