The study recommends the following:
a. Parliament should amend Section 77(1)-(2) of the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA), 2015 which accords the Minister to award tax exemptions, report and justify the award to parliament
b. Parliament should repeal Section 21 (q), (t), (s), (v) of Income Tax Law to provide tax holidays up to a maximum of five (5) years which can only be extended after an independent costbenefit analysis.
c. MoFPED should analyse the impact of any proposed tax reforms and base the decisions on the potential impact on reducing inequality before introducing any new measures.
d. MoFPED should ensure full autonomy of URA and hold the Authority accountable to an agreed set of performance measures. FAIR TAX MONITOR STUDY xvii UGANDA
e. The Ministry of Local Government and MoFPED should strengthen the capacity of LG tax administrations.
f. MoFPED should publish on annual basis a cost-benefit analysis of all tax expenditures and incentives with a view to reduce or remove some
g. MoFPED should use oil and gas revenues to increase overall public spending on social sectors, especially education and health, by allocating more funds to meet the international and regional commitments
h. URA should produce disaggregated data on taxpayers
i. URA should collect VAT and CIT which are currently underperforming through conducting effective tax gap analysis by working with a broad range of experts.
j. MoFPED should use oil and gas revenues to increase overall public spending on social sectors, especially education and health
k. CSOs should continue to build public awareness on taxation, the need to pay taxes and influence government affairs (including demanding quality services).
l. CSOs should simplify all tax laws and policies and translate them into local languages. At local levels, CSOs can work with citizens’ groups and traders/ vendors’ associations to provide simplified information about taxation.
m. CSOs should carry out more advocacy on ensuring tax administration is transparent and accountable.
n. CSOs should undertake more empirical studies to establish the impact of tax on various categories of people.
o. CSOs could conduct gender audits of taxes and demand that government implements gender-sensitive tax policies.