Editorial
May 2, 2004
|
On Wednesday, graduated tax claimed yet another three victims. Bernard Oketch and Moses Waiswa, hapless peasants of Busowa, in Bugiri died as they tried to escape from tax collectors � one shot by an LDU personnel, the other knocked by a speeding car as he fled to the other side of the road. The third, LDU man Robert Mwinike, was lynched by the angry mob to avenge the earlier two deaths. Over the years, many Ugandans have met their deaths trying to escape the tax collector who often only wants Shs 3,000 from them, or at most Shs 10,000. It is a cheap death they have met, but one that should hang on the conscience of the political class bent on perpetuating this primitive colonial tax. The disadvantages of graduated tax cannot be belaboured. In the course of the sixth parliament, Oyam South MP Okulo Epak ably demonstrated that the cost of administering this poll tax was far higher than any benefits that may accrue from it. Unfortunately his motion was defeated, as were the candidates who stood on the anti-poll tax ticket during the 2001 presidential elections. Yet the pain and burden of this tax cannot be wished away. For one, nearly half of Ugandans live below the poverty line of one dollar a day. Paying tax, even as low as Shs 3,000 (just under two dollars) is therefore forfeiting two or three days meal � and you have said nothing about essential items like salt, soap, clothing, medicare etc. But worse, there is hardly anything to show the villagers for the taxes paid year in, year out apart from the fat stomach and shining new bicycles of the tax collector and his cohorts. The local dispensaries have no drugs, roads are not maintained, schools lack basic In the circumstances therefore, many villages have chosen to play hide and seek, often sleeping in the bushes to avoid the taxman. But why should it always be this way? Our neighbours Kenya and Tanzania, which also inherited the obnoxious tax from colonial British administration, have long dumped it and their economies and social sector are light years ahead of ours. MP Epak has once again tabled a motion seeking to abolish the tax. Hopefully this time round, the seventh parliament � and President Museveni � will cut the politics and support the motion. |
� 2004 The Monitor Publications
Add photos to your e-mail with MSN 8. Get 2 months FREE*. -------------------------------------------- This service is hosted on the Infocom network http://www.infocom.co.ug
