REPORT
ON
GENDER BUDGET ANALYSIS OF TAXATION IN UGANDA
FOCUSING
ON
CENTRAL GOVERNMENT TAXATION CARRIED OUT BY
UGANDA REVENUE AUTHORITY (URA)
Research led by:
Wanyaka S. H.
Assisted by:
Kimule Sulait and Katamba Francis
November 2003
Table of contents
1
2
Introduction 6
1.1
Background 6
1.2
Aim of the study 6
1.3
Mandate for engendering taxation policy 7
Methodology and Approach 8
2.1
Introduction 8
2.2
Literature review 8
2.3
Gender Methodologies Used 9
2.3.1
Gender Aware Policy Appraisal 10
2.3.2
Beneficiary Assessment 10
2.3.3
Gender Disaggregated Public Expenditure Incidence Analysis 10
2.3.4
Gender Disaggregated Analysis of the Impact of the Budget on Time Use 10
2.3.5
Gender Aware Medium Term Economic Policy Framework 10
2.3.6
Gender Responsive Budget Statements 10
2.4
Data collection and analysis 11
2.4.1
Meetings with URA Staff 11
2.4.2
Preparation of Study Instruments 11
2.4.3
Individual Interviews 11
2.4.4
Analysis and Consolidation 11
2.4.5
Consensus Building and Dissemination Meeting 12
3
4
The Actors in Tax Policy Formulation 13
3.1
Introduction 13
3.2
MFPED 13
3.3
Civil Society 13
3.4
The Organized Trading Community 13
3.5
Parliament 14
Gender Situational Analysis of URA 15
4.1
Management and Administration 15
4.2
Departments 16
4.2.1
Commissioner General’s Office 17
4.2.2
Legal Services and Board Secretariat 18
4.2.3
Customs and Excise Department 18
4.2.4
Domestic Indirect Taxes Department 18
4.2.5
Domestic Direct Taxes Department 18
4.2.6
Expansion and Collection Department 19
4.2.7
Information Technology and Corporate Services 19
4.2.8
Internal Audit and Tax Investigation 19
4.2.9
Finance Department 19
4.2.10
Human Resources Department 20
5
Gender Analysis of URA policy 21
5.1
Introduction 21
5.2
Rationale for Transfer of the Tax Colleciton Function 21
5.3
Results of the Transfer 21
2
5.4
Functions of the URA 22
5.5
Analysis of the URA Corporate Plan 2002/03-2006/07 22
5.5.1
History of Corporate Planning 22
6
5.6
URA Achievements for 2001/02 23
5.7
Constraints 24
6. Gender Analysis of URA Budget for 2001/02 and 2002/03 25
6.1
7
Departmental allocations of the 2002/03 Budget 26
7.1
8
Preparation of the URA Budget 25
Activities that Affect Vulnerable Groups 27
Qualitative and Quantitative Gender Analysis 28
8.1
Uganda Government Tax Structure in 2001/02 28
8.2
Tax revenue performance for 2001/02 31
8.3
Impact of Taxation Policy on Women and Men 32
8.3.1
Difficulties in tax collection in Uganda 32
8.4
Composition of Tax Revenue 32
8.5
Selecting the Right Tax System 33
8.6
Tax Policy Challenges Facing Uganda 34
8.7
Trends in tax collections over the last three years 36
8.8
How much would be paid by men or women 36
8.9
Categories of poor women and men 37
8.9.1
Peasant farmers 37
8.9.2
Rural landless people 37
8.9.3
The urban unemployed 38
8.9.4
School dropouts 38
8.9.5
Low paid formal sector workers 38
8.9.6
Informal sector workers 39
8.10
How Taxes Impact on Social and Economic Activities 39
8.10.1
Impact of Direct Domestic Taxes on the Poor 40
8.10.2
Impact of Indirect Taxes on the Poor 40
8.11
9
Gender analysis of taxation of goods mainly used by women in Finance Act 2002 41
Gender Analysis of Tax Reform Measures 43
9.1
Tax Policy Reforms for 2001/02 43
9.1.1
Cigarettes and petroleum 43
9.1.2
Zero Rated and Exempted Items 43
9.1.3
Reduction in Import Duty 44
9.1.4
Value Added Tax (VAT) 44
9.1.5
Excise Duty 44
9.1.6
Non-tax revenue 45
9.2
Proposed Changes in the Application of the Income Tax Act, 1997 45
9.3
Tax Administration Challenges 46
9.4
Tax Policy Changes for 2002/03 46
9.4.1
Major tax proposals 47
9.4.2
Challenges for the Tax Policies 49
3
10
Gender Analysis of Tax Incentives 50
10.1
Tax Holidays 50
10.2
Tax Credits and Investment Allowances 50
10.3
Accelerated Depreciation 51
10.4
Investment Subsidies 51
10.5
Indirect Tax Incentives 51
10.6
Administrative Mechanisms 51
10.7
Conclusion 52
11
Findings and Conclusions 53
12
Appendix 9: People interviewed 57
13
Appendix 10: Tax laws 58
14
Appendix 12: References 59
4
Abbreviations and Acronyms
AC
BARS
CG
FOWODE
GDP
HS Code
MEC
MFPED
MTTI
NSSF
PAYE
ST
TAT
TINs
TPD
UIA
URA
WCO
GOU
Assistant Commissioner
Business Analysis and Revenue Support in URA
Commissioner General
Forum for Women in Development
Gross domestic product
Harmonized System Code (by WCO)
Management Executive Committee
Ministry of Finance Planning and Economic Development
Ministry of Tourism Trade and Industry
National Social Security Fund
Pay as You Earn tax
Secretary to the Treasury
Tax Appeals Tribunal
Tax Identification Numbers
Tax Policy Department
Uganda Investment Authority
Uganda Revenue Authority
World Customs Organization.
Government of Uganda
5
1 Introduction
1.1 Background
A tax is an involuntary contribution made to government. Government uses the
money collected to attain its economic, social and political objectives. It is
important to understand this motivation for collecting taxes if we want to
influence tax policy. Governments levy taxes and collect other revenue for the
following reasons, among others:

To finance public expenditure;

To correct market imperfections; and

To guide economic activities in the country.
The logo for the Uganda Revenue Authority contains the motto: ‘Taxes for
National Development’.
These first sections talk about tax, but the paper discusses both tax and other
forms of revenue. The URA, which is the focus of this study, is mandated to collect
government revenue on behalf of the state. It collects both tax and non-tax
revenue such as fees and licenses.
A number of studies on gender and budgets have been undertaken both inside
and outside Uganda. Most of the emphasis in these studies has been on public
expenditure and its impact on men and women and vulnerable groups such as
children and people with disabilities. This study focuses, in particular, on tax policy
formulation and Central Government tax administration carried out by the URA.
An Act of Parliament, the Uganda Revenue Authority Statute of 1991, set up the
URA in September 1991. The vision of the URA is to collect revenue that will fully
finance the Uganda government’s recurrent and development expenditure by
attaining a tax:gross domestic product (GDP) ratio of at least 24:100.
1.2 Aim of the study
The main aim of the study is to analyse tax policy formulation and tax
administration with a view to identifying intervention points for addressing gender
concerns. The main role-players in tax policy formulation and administration are
the Tax Policy Department (TPD) of the Ministry of Finance, Planning and
Economic Development (MFPED) and the URA. Other studies sponsored by
FOWODE deal with the MFPED. This report therefore focuses primarily on the URA.
The study discusses the following issues from a gender perspective:

Situational analysis of the URA

URA policy statement for 2001/02

URA budget for 2001/02

The central government taxation structure

Taxation policy at the national level

Incidence of taxation by gender

Taxation on goods and services that are mostly used by women and other
marginalized groups
6


Tax incentives on selected goods and services
Taxation reforms during the years 2001 to 2003.
The motivation for the study is the need to ensure that policy and budget
decisions take gender perspectives into account and that policies on gender
equality are inadequately resourced. A related objective is to increase women's
participation in economic processes by making policies that address their
concerns.
1.3 Mandate for engendering taxation policy
There is a very clear mandate for incorporating gender perspectives into budget
processes, including taxation. The outcomes document of the twenty-third special
session of the United Nations General Assembly to follow up implementation of
the Beijing Platform for Action in June 2000 (A/S-23/10/Rev.1) reads a follows:
73 (b). Incorporate a gender perspective into the design, development,
adoption and execution of all budgetary processes, as appropriate, in order to
promote equitable, effective and appropriate resource allocation and
establish adequate budgetary allocations to support gender equality and
development programmes that enhance women's empowerment and
develop the necessary analytical and methodological tools and mechanisms
for monitoring and evaluation;
There are also provisions for equality in the Constitution of Uganda and other
national laws and processes that provide motivation for engendering taxation
policies. Chapter four of the Constitution is particularly emphatic about nondiscriminatory provisions.
7
2 Methodology and Approach
2.1 Introduction
The role of each of the important actors in relation to taxation was examined.
Information-gathering both structured and unstructured discussions with
informants. The list of people met is attached as Appendix 9. The researchers also
gathered information through observation and brainstorming sessions. These were
facilitated by the Corporate Service division of URA, involving round table
discussions. The study was also informed by a preliminary review of the literature.
Information collected from each actor was cross-checked with information from
other actors to verify its validity. On the whole, the information from the different
actors complemented rather than contradicted each other.
2.2 Literature review
Budlender et al (2002), Bartle et al (2002), and Smith (1996) point out that gender
analysis of revenue is still relatively undeveloped. They note that countries like
Australia, United Kingdom and South Africa have done some initial work in the
area.
When carrying out a gender sensitive analysis on revenue, a number of issues
need to be taken into consideration. Budlender et al (2002) suggest that gendersensitive analysis of government revenues is more difficult, and often politically
more sensitive, than gender analysis of government expenditures. Nevertheless, it
is possible and desirable to undertake an analysis.
Budlender et al (2002) provide a framework for gender budget analysis of public
revenue. They note that taxation; donor funds and other revenues together
constitute total revenue. Taxation comprises direct (e.g. income tax), indirect
taxes (e.g. value-added tax (VAT), and customs and excise duty) and tax
expenditures (e.g. incentives and rebates). Donor funds comprise loans and
grants. Other revenues include user fees and licenses.
Budlender et al (2002) suggest that the area of revenue which is usually the
easiest to analyse is that of personal income tax, as it can be analysed on the
basis of whether the taxpayer is female or male. Generally, men contribute a
larger share of government revenue than women because more men than
women usually earn cash, they generally earn more than women, and they
therefore tend to pay more tax. For example, Budlender et al note that in
Australia, in 1990/91 women constituted 43% of all taxpayers and paid 31% of the
total income tax.
Other taxes are more complicated to analyse because many are paid by
households rather than by individuals. This is clear, for example, with VAT. Taxes
on goods and services such as alcohol and tobacco tend to affect men more
8
than women to the extent that men are more likely than women to drink and
smoke. However, these taxes may have a negative effect on women if higher
taxes on these goods result in men’s withholding greater amounts of money from
the common household’s budget.
Budlender et al (2002) describe three problems that can be encountered in
conducting a gendered analysis of revenue:

Authorities may not have taken the trouble to collect disaggregated
information, or information and taxation may be based on married couples
rather than (male or female) individuals.

Individual taxpayers who earn below a certain threshold do not submit
individual tax returns, with their contributions being paid as lump payments
by the employer.

Particularly in poorer countries, individual taxpayers comprise a very small
proportion of the population, hence personal income taxation provides a
relatively small proportion of government revenue.
Smith (2001) notes that the revenue side of the budget, and taxation policy in
particular, can have direct redistribution effects which can either benefit or
disadvantage groups such as women and the poor. His paper traces the impact
of changes in taxation policy on women in South Africa since 1994, as the country
moved away from a policy that was overtly discriminatory to one that implicitly
disadvantaged certain groups.
An earlier South African study by Hartzenberg (1996) focused on personal income
taxes, retirement benefits, unemployment insurance, medical aid contributions,
corporate taxes and VAT. Like other studies in this field, this study was constrained
by the lack of official statistics on women’s share of the tax burden.
St Hill (2001) emphasises the need to pay attention to both the individual and the
family in order to reflect the contribution of unpaid home-based activity to the
economy. Most of the care economy is the preserve of women. If gender effects
are to be seen clearly and factored into policy planning then it is essential to
understand the distinct impacts of budgets at the individual and household level.
The word ‘budgets’ applies to both expenditure and taxation aspects.
In addition to writings on gender and revenue, this study used documents such as
Tax Laws, including the Finance Act of 2002. The full list of laws consulted is listed in
Appendix 10. The Internet, and the URA website (www.ugrevenue.com) in
particular, was also a useful source. Other sources, such as budget speeches, the
URA Corporate Plan, URA Business Plan, and URA Human Resource Manual are
listed in Appendix 12.
2.3 Gender Methodologies Used
The study drew on a range of different methodologies, which are commonly used
for gender analysis of expenditure.
9
2.3.1 Gender Aware Policy Appraisal
This is the analysis from a gender perspective of the policies and programmes
funded through the budget. The analysis seeks to answer the following question:
In what ways are the policies and their associated resource allocations likely to
impact on gender inequality? In this study we examine, among others, the tax
policy changes effected during 2000/2001 and 2001/2002.
2.3.2 Beneficiary Assessment
This approach seeks to ascertain the actual or potential impact of public services
to the beneficiary. Usually the assessment is done by the beneficiaries themselves.
In this study we do the assessment, rather than asking the beneficiaries. In terms of
focus, we look at the structure of allowances offered to URA staff and identify
those that ware likely to benefit women more.
2.3.3 Gender Disaggregated Public Expenditure Incidence Analysis
This method estimates the distribution of budget resources or changes in resources
among female and male by measuring the unit costs of providing a given service
and multiplying that cost by the number of units used by each group. In this study
we look at the URA budget for 2002/03. We assume that the development budget
of the different URA departments is largely gender-neutral in its allocation of
resources for office construction/renovation, furniture and so on. There was no
evidence of a special part of the development budget of URA spent on special
gender facilities for female and male staff. However, the recurrent budget
expenditures can include gender-specific allocations, for example on
employee/staff costs and welfare schemes like maternity allowance.
2.3.4 Gender Disaggregated Analysis of the Impact of the Budget on Time Use
This method establishes the link between budget allocations and their effects on
how individuals within households spend their time. It is premised on the
assumption that changes in some forms of public expenditure and revenue raising
are likely to affect the amount of time that women (and men) spend on unpaid
care work. In the study we look at the URA medical scheme to verify this premise.
2.3.5 Gender Aware Medium Term Economic Policy Framework
This method is used to assess the impact of economic policies on women,
focusing on aggregate fiscal and monetary policies designed to reduce poverty.
In the study we focus on the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) and the
Medium Term Budget Framework (MTBF) and single out those tax measures that
address gender concerns in the medium term. We look, in particular, at the
composition of incentives for export promotion like tax exemptions, holidays, and
rebates, zero-rated VAT goods and supplies.
2.3.6 Gender Responsive Budget Statements
This is a statement that reviews the budget using some of the above tools and
summarizes its implications for gender equality with different indicators like the
10
gender balance in jobs, contracts, training or share of public service expenditure
used mainly by women. These statements are done by the government and not
by the researcher. However, the researcher analyses government budget
statements to see whether and how gender issues are addressed.
2.4 Data collection and analysis
2.4.1 Meetings with URA Staff
At the commencement of the assignment the researcher held meetings and
brainstorming sessions with URA officers on issues to be considered during the
assignment. The meetings were also aimed at securing the permission of the
Commissioner General (CG) to access the relevant literature and to interview her
staff. To facilitate access, Hon. Beatrice Kiraso, Chairperson of the Budget
Committee, kindly provided a letter of introduction for the researchers to the CG
(see Appendix C). Obtaining access to the information took two weeks.
In addition to obtaining access, the inception meetings with URA officers helped
to:
 Familiarise the researchers with programmes and activities of URA as well as
with the other target groups or stakeholders affected by URA activities.
 Obtain documentation that had not already been collected by the
researchers prior to the assignment.

Familiarise the researchers with the current institutional organizational state of
URA.

Agree on the structure and content of the structured questionnaire.
2.4.2 Preparation of Study Instruments
In order to focus the interviews, an interview guide/checklist was developed. This
checklist aimed to provide consistency of information. However, the researchers
did not stick only to the checklist but, in addition, probed the responses of
interviewees. A questionnaire was also developed in relation to data needed on
various aspects of the study (See Appendix B).
2.4.3 Individual Interviews
In-depth interviews were held with URA officials, the Commissioner General and
her key staff. These interviews aimed to gain deeper understanding of issues
encountered in the execution of the taxation mandates of URA and MFPED. The
interviews were also intended to verify information already collected, correct any
misunderstanding, fill gaps and solicit their perceptions on taxation matters.
2.4.4 Analysis and Consolidation
The information obtained from the various sources was analyzed by the
researchers. At the end of the consultations, the various responses were
consolidated into one report.
11
2.4.5 Consensus Building and Dissemination Meeting
The draft report was then presented to a meeting of major stakeholders in August
and September 2003 to solicit feedback on key findings and recommendations.
The comments from the meeting were then incorporated into this report.
12
3 The Actors in Tax Policy Formulation
In order to guide any person seeking to influence tax policy this section outlines
the roles of key actors in tax policy formulation and implementation.
3.1 Introduction
Tax policy formulation involves making proposals for new or amended taxes,
including motivations for the tax and strategies for its collection. This function is
vested in the MFPED and is carried out on the basis of technical advice from the
TPD.
Moves to influence tax policy need to take into account the different actors and
their roles in relation to tax policy, implementation and monitoring. An
understanding of these actors and their roles informs the entry points for any
lobbying. This chapter therefore describes the different actors and their roles.
3.2 MFPED
The MFPED thus makes proposals both for expenditure and for methods of funding
that expenditure. They also set targets for revenue collection by URA. These
targets are based on assumptions about the economy and the need to raise
revenue for funding government programmes. Assumptions include exchange
rates, real GDP growth, nominal GDP growth, inflation, and volume growth for dry
and wet imports. Wet imports refer to Petroleum products, which account for 30%
of Customs taxes, warranting special attention, dry imports refer to the rest.
The Tax Policy Department (TPD) of the Ministry of Finance, Planning and
Economic Development monitors the attainment of the targets in order to avoid
shortfalls that could disrupt expenditure plans and programmes. Revenue
shortfalls also have an impact on the size of the budget deficit which, in turn, has
other macroeconomic consequences, for example in relation to exchange rates.
3.3 Civil Society
Civil society often has concerns about particular taxes or tax waivers. Some civil
society groups and individuals have attempted to hold the Government
accountable for its taxation policies. These bodies lobby the Government to
request the imposition or abolition of particular taxes. A number of pressure
groups like environmental NGOs advocate for higher taxes on polythene products
to preserve the environment. There is affirmative action in Uganda whereby
female candidates have preferential entry requirements to tertiary institutions.
3.4 The Organized Trading Community
The Trading/Business Community represents a large portion of the tax paying
public. This group of people therefore has a big stake in tax policy formulation.
The actions of the business community in relation to tax policy are sometimes
carried out individually and at other times collectively. Affluent individuals with
large businesses and/or holding political positions can influence tax policy by
13
lobbying or intimidating the Government. One example is the VAT strike in 1996.
A second example is the collective bargaining entered into by institutions such as
the Uganda Manufacturers Association (UMA), Uganda Export Promotion Board
(UEPB) and Uganda Investment Authority (UIA). These organizations enter into
negotiations with the government before the national Budget is read.
Lobbying can take several forms, including mass protests, advising the Minister of
Finance or the President, talking to individual Members of Parliament, and
appearing before or submitting memoranda to the relevant Committees of
Parliament such as the Committee on National Economy, Committee on Finance,
Planning and Economic Development and the Budget Committee.
3.5 Parliament
According to Article 152 of the Constitution, no tax shall be imposed except
under the authority of an Act of Parliament. Any person (or institution) legally
empowered to impose or waive a tax is required to report periodically to
Parliament. This makes Parliament the supreme authority in taxation policy.
The tax laws enacted by Parliament are handed down to Uganda Revenue
Authority for implementation and enforcement. Interpretation of the tax laws is
vested in the Attorney General with powers of arbitration of tax disputes vested in
courts of law and the Tax Appeals Tribunal.
14
4 Gender Situational Analysis of URA
4.1 Management and Administration
URA is managed and administered by a Board of Directors. The Board is the policy
making body and exercises a general oversight function. The Management of
URA is headed by the Commissioner General, who is assisted by two Deputy
Commissioner Generals and nine other Commissioners.
The composition of the Board is as follows.

The Chairperson, appointed by MFPED

The Commissioner General

The ST

The Permanent Secretary (PS) of The Ministry of Tourism, Trade and Industry

Three members from the Private Sector appointed by the Minister of Finance,
Planning and Economic Development.
Table 3 shows the sex distribution of the seven board members in mid-2003.
Overall, there are five men and two women.
Table 1 Table 3. Sex distribution of URA board members, 2003
Men
Women
Chairperson
1
Commissioner General
1
ST
1
PS/MTTI
1
Members
2
1
Total
5
2
Total
1
1
1
1
3
7
The Management Executive Committee (MEC) is responsible for the day-to-day
administration and operation of the Authority, and for making recommendations
to the Board of Directors for new policy initiatives. The MEC is led by the
Commissioner General as the Chief Executive. Its members are nine heads of
departments two deputy Commissioner and three heads of units that are not
necessarily departments but have implementation functions are observers at MEC
meetings. These include the Board Secretary and Assistant Commissioner Training
and Public relations.
The structure of MEC is therefore as shown in Table 4. Eight of the 13 members are
women.
15
Table 2 Table 4: Sex distribution of MEC members
Female
Male
Chairperson (CG)
1
Secretary
1
Members
5
4
Observers
1
1
Total
8
5
Total
1
1
9
2
13
4.2 Departments
A restructuring exercise carried out in July 2002 resulted in significant changes in
the organizational structure of the URA. The current departments are:

Commissioner General's Office

Customs & Excise

Domestic Indirect Taxes

Domestic Direct Taxes

Expansion & Collection

Legal Services And Board Secretariat

Information Technology And Corporate Services

Internal Audit And Tax Investigation

Finance

Human Resource
The following sub-sections provide a description of the functions of each
department. Table 3 shows the number of male and female staff in each
department as at July 2002. The gender situational analysis for each department
is set out in appendices 1a through 7b. (Appendices attached on a separate file)
16
Table 3 Sex breakdown of staffing of URA Departments, July 2002
Females
696
Males
1418
TOTAL NO. OF EMPLOYEES
2114
KEY
DEPARTMENT 01
DEPARTMENT 02
DEPARTMENT 03
DEPARTMENT 04
DEPARTMENT 05
DEPARTMENT 06
DEPARTMENT 07
DEPARTMENT 08
DEPARTMENT 09
DEPARTMENT 10
DEPARTMENT 11
DEPARTMENT 12
M
56
9
107
483
99
40
19
80
331
53
89
50
F
21
9
49
191
63
41
22
49
181
27
22
21
CGO
L&BS
FIN
CUE
DDT
IT&CS
HR
DIT
EX&C
IA&TI
ADMIN
RPS
Commissioner General's Office
Legal and Board Secretariat
Finance
Customs and Excise
Domestic Direct Taxes
Information Technology & CS
Human Resources
Domestic Indirect Taxes
Expansion and Collection
Internal Audit & Tax Investigation
Administration
Revenue Protection Service
4.2.1 Commissioner General’s Office
The Commissioner General is the Chief Executive of the URA and is responsible for
the day-to-day operations of the Authority, management of the entire
organization and control of all the Departments. The Commissioner General’s
office comprises two Deputy Commissioner Generals, one in charge of Revenue
and the other in charge of Administration.
The Commissioner General is directly responsible for the Staff Monitoring Unit and
Public Relations. The Deputy Commissioner General – Administration is directly
responsible for the Administration Unit and the Deputy Commissioner General –
Revenue is directly responsible for the Tax Education Unit, Business Analysis and
Revenue Support and Revenue Protection Services.
The Administration Unit is responsible for the management of all administrative
units of the Authority and ensures consistent and clear administrative machinery in
URA. This unit includes security of URA property, the procurement systems, estates
management and the administration of general support services including
transport and office superintendence.
The Tax Education Unit is responsible for the sensitisation of the public on tax
related information. The unit is responsible for producing up-dated tax reading
materials in the form of tax guides and leaflets. The Unit is also charged with the
responsibility of identifying areas where tax sensitisation is needed and the most
appropriate media to convey the information to the public.
17
The Public Relations Unit provides the first point of contact between the URA and
the general public. It liaises with the aim of consistently improving the corporate
image of the institution.
The Business Analysis and Revenue Support unit is a new division. It is responsible
for professional and technical support activities in the Authority. The functions of
research and statistics are handled by this unit. Difficult cases of arrears are
handled through the debt collection unit.
The aim of the Staff Monitoring Unit is to preserve a high calibre staff in the URA.
This Unit pursues cases of suspected staff malpractice and ensures that the right
disciplinary actions are taken.
The Revenue Protection Services unit is entrusted with the protection of tax
revenue. The goal of this unit is to minimise tax leakages especially in respect of
international trade taxes. The success of this unit is judged on the basis of
reduction in smuggling and evasion of trade taxes.
4.2.2 Legal Services and Board Secretariat
This department is headed by the Board Secretary/Head Legal. It advises the
Authority on legal matters, and represents the URA in cases requiring litigation.
The Department is headed by a Commissioner and employed seven advocates
as well as 10 support staff.
4.2.3 Customs and Excise Department
A Commissioner heads this department, assisted by two Deputies and four
Assistant Commissioners. The Customs and Excise department facilitates
international trade, collects revenues due after assessment, and exercises quality
control of imported goods so as to prevent contraband. The department also
ensures protection of local industry and society.
4.2.4 Domestic Indirect Taxes Department
A commissioner heads the department, assisted by one Deputy and two Assistant
Commissioners. The Domestic Indirect Taxes department aims to maximise local
indirect tax, with an emphasis on VAT, through execution of audits and
assessment functions.
4.2.5 Domestic Direct Taxes Department
A commissioner heads the department, assisted by one Deputy and two Assistant
Commissioners. The department’s emphasis is on income tax. It at tempts to
minimise collusion and tax leakages and maximise direct local tax revenue and
compliance to the Income Tax Act of 1997. The department aims to improve the
proportionate share of local direct taxes to total tax revenue, with a goal of
attaining the sub-Saharan African average of 34%.
18
4.2.6 Expansion and Collection Department
A commissioner heads the department, assisted by one Deputy and four Assistant
Commissioners. This new department is responsible for the collection of domestic
taxes. The department’s functions are to register, collect and account for
domestically generated revenues due in accordance with the relevant laws of
Uganda. It is also responsible for initiatives aimed at expanding the tax base.
4.2.7 Information Technology and Corporate Services
A Commissioner, assisted by two Assistant Commissioners, heads this department.
The department’s role is to provide the necessary technical support and
facilitation to the entire URA. The department has two major divisions, namely
Corporate Services and Information Technology, each headed by an Assistant
Commissioner, with several sections and units below them.
The Corporate Services division has three units:

Strategic and business planning

Project Management & Implementation Unit

Plan Inspections, Budget, Monitoring and Evaluation.
The Information Technology Division has two major sections:

The System Design and Development section develops in-house software.
Where necessary, it carries out research and recommends off-theshelf/vendor supply of software to URA and ensures appropriate
customization to suit URA processes.

The Systems Operation and Maintenance section is responsible for smooth
operation and systems maintenance.
4.2.8 Internal Audit and Tax Investigation
A Commissioner heads the department assisted by two Deputy Commissioners
and two Assistant Commissioner. The department is made up of two divisions,
namely Internal Audit and Tax Investigation. The Department handles
investigations related to tax fraud and transaction audits in respect of revenue
and expenditure. The department also provides support to revenue collection
and administration by reviewing systems of internal controls and investigating
cases of suspected tax evasion.
4.2.9 Finance Department
A Commissioner, assisted by a Deputy Commissioner and an Assistant
commissioner, heads the department. The functions of this department were
managed together with that of administration under the Finance and
Administration Department until June 2002. The Department collaborates with
other departments to prepare and present the annual capital and recurrent
expenditure budgets to the Ministry of Finance. It is also responsible for soliciting
funding for the Corporate plan.
19
4.2.10 Human Resources Department
A Commissioner, assisted by a Deputy Commissioner and an Assistant
Commissioner, heads the department. The Human Resource Department’s
function is ‘to initiate, develop, Implement and review systems for the
management of staff performance in line with the URA Mission, Core Values and
the Human Resources Management Manual.’ of URA. The Human Resources
manual has explicit provisions for paid maternity leave for female staff of 45
calendar days paid in addition to annual leave. There are also provisions for
death benefits of staff or next of kin who are in most cases children. In Uganda,
infant mortality rates is high, therefore, children are more vulnerable than their
parents. There are long service awards, gratuities and a retirement scheme
managed by the National Social Security Fund (NSSF) for elderly staff. A pension
scheme is currently being developed.
The functions of the Departments include:

Selection and recruitment to ensure the continued availability and
maintenance of qualified and skilled human resources;

Management of staff records and an information databank;

Organization development reviews aimed at administrative and
management structures, systems, methods and procedures to ensure
continuous performance improvements;

Employee performance management to ensure maintenance of quality and
productive workforce;

Human resource planning and development review, staff turnover, human
resource projections and succession planning;

Provision of social welfare and other employee service benefits,
management of staff discipline and grievance settlement procedures;

Training and skills development to enhance the quality of performance of
employees.
20
5 Gender Analysis of URA policy
5.1 Introduction
At the time of inception, URA took over all duties and properties of the former
collecting departments of Income Tax, Inland Revenue and Customs and Excise.
The Authority was created as a semi-autonomous body with a Board of Directors
appointed by and responsible to the Minister of Finance, Planning and Economic
Development.
The URA Statute grants a considerable degree of autonomy to the URA. The URA
is mandated to collect revenue for the central government. Its mission is to
maximize central government revenue while optimizing resource utilization by
ensuring a fair and equitable tax administration with a highly motivated and
professional staff. In order to fulfill this mission, the organization developed its
corporate plan as a framework from which it derives its business plans.
The Corporate Plan defines the strategic path to be taken by the URA during the
five-year period from 2002/03 to 2006/07. It spells out the organization’s corporate
objectives and lays down strategies for achieving them. In addition to focusing on
enhanced revenue collections, the plan takes into account the basic role of the
Authority of maximizing revenue with minimum burden to the taxpayers so as to
fund, to the greatest extent possible, the government expenditure budget.
5.2 Rationale for Transfer of the Tax Collection Function
Before the formation of URA, four departments in the Ministry of Finance
administered taxes. The transfer of the functions to the URA was meant to address
problems of poor tax productivity due to low staff morale and commitment,
shortage of operating facilities, corruption and staff indiscipline, weak
management and staff supervision. There was also a lack of taxpaying culture
among the public due to perception that the tax system is unfair.
The creation of the URA moved staff away from the traditional civil service, with
improved terms and conditions of service, strict discipline and increased
facilitation. This is in terms of better remuneration than the traditional civil service,
better working environment and working tools like vehicles and computers.
5.3 Results of the Transfer
During the first year of operation, tax collections more than doubled from Shs
180.5 billion in 1991/92 to Shs 383.8 billion in 1992/93, an increase of 113%.
Average annual growth of revenue has been 24% since 1992/93. Table 4 shows
the figures over the ten-year period.
21
Table 4 Historical revenue figures for is it tax and non tax revenue
Year
Revenue Bn. Shs Annual Growth
1991/92
180.45
1992/93
383.81
112.7%
1993/94
388.11
1.1%
1994/95
522.23
34.6%
1995/96
639.64
22.5%
1996/97
742.62
16.1%
1997/98
821.59
10.6%
1998/99
969.57
18.0%
1999/00
1031.58
6.4%
2000/01
1125.40
9.1%
2001/02
1264.31
12.3%
Average Annual Growth
24.3%
5.4 Functions of the URA
The functions of the URA are, among others, to:

Effect all Central Government taxations laws;

Promote equity and fairness in the tax system;

Provide a databank for primary data and information for the tax policy
function of the Ministry of Finance;

Carry out proactive research to evaluate different fiscal policy options
available and advise government on the preferred course of action;

Educate the tax-paying public, researchers and future taxpayers (students)
so that they are fully aware of their rights and obligations under the existing
tax regime and are kept up to date regarding any changes to that regime;

Work in conjunction with the government bodies such as the Ministry of Trade
and Industry and the Bureau of Standards in monitoring the quality and
nature of goods crossing the borders of Uganda; and

Provide Uganda with the necessary representation in regional and
international fora where such fora have implications for tax policy and
administration.
5.5 Analysis of the URA Corporate Plan 2002/03-2006/07
5.5.1 History of Corporate Planning
The Uganda Revenue Authority Corporate Plan for 2002/03-2006/07 is a successor
to the first five-year plan for 1995/06-1999/2000. The first medium term plan had
limited success because the need for corporate strategy had not been fully
internalized and the necessary staff were therefore not assigned to this function.
Planning was also top-down, leading to lack of support by staff.
Subsequent pressure by the Government to have efficiency improvements in the
wake of budget constraints emphasized the need for a corporate strategy.
22
The present Plan is the result of a bottom-up consultative process and thus has
more prospects of success than the first one. The ultimate goals of the plan over
the plan period are to raise the revenue to GDP ratio from the present 12% to 17%,
and to change the structure of tax by reducing the role of trade taxes relative to
direct and indirect turnover taxes from the present ration of 52:20:28 to 45:25:30.
These changes are aimed at promoting voluntary compliance among taxpayers.
The plan details the corporate goals and outlines the strategies for attaining them.
The long-term vision of URA is to fund the entire Government budget. At present it
funds only 50% of the budget.
There are no explicit references to gender concerns of employment in URA, in the
Corporate plan, a situation that requires attention. URA senior staff are mostly
women, but this has occurred by default rather than by design.
The General Corporate objectives of the URA as envisaged in the Plan are:

Revenue maximization and minimizing leakages;

Improving the quality of services;

Staff development and motivation;

Corporate management improvement; and

Image building and maintenance of corporate integrity.
Specific Corporate Objectives in the Plan include:

Widening the tax base by tapping unregistered tax payers like landlords,
PAYE, informal sector taxpayers that claim to be below VAT threshold;

Strengthening the audit and investigation functions;

Strengthening the IT strategy by building a local Area Network;

Standardization of IT Platforms;

Preparation of an Integrated Tax Administration System to allow easy tax
reconciliation and interdepartmental links;

Strengthening Human Resource Management to ensure that staff are
remunerated appropriately for services rendered, and given fair hearing in
all cases of complaints and grievances;

According staff appropriate counseling services, and providing them with
healthy working conditions, skills, tools and facilities to perform their jobs
effectively and efficiently;

Corporate image improvement and enforcement of strict discipline and
personal commitment.
5.6 URA Achievements for 2001/02
During 2001/02 the URA reported the following achievements:

An Improvement in domestic VAT collection;

Collection of passport fees (non-tax revenue) that exceeded the target by a
substantial margin;
23




Successful launch of a Code of Ethics for staff and a project to champion
ethics and integrity to inculcate a positive culture amongst staff;
Launch of tax stamps on cigarettes, which yielded more revenue from
cigarettes;
Launch of Local Excise Duty – Direct banking in March 2002; and
New Customs procedures that took effect in February 2002, which reduced
customs clearance of goods to two days.
5.7 Constraints
There was a delay on the part of the Ministry of Finance to release capital funding
for the URA and this imposed financial constraints on the organisation.
The lack of legal status of SRPS Special Revenue Protection services for prevention
of tax fraud and smuggling, affected releases to that entity which encroached on
the URA budget.
There was general under-budgeting for URA by the Ministry of Finance so that
several activities [such as?] went far beyond the budgeted amount.
There is inadequate facilitation, especially for the collecting departments, in terms
of office equipment and machinery such as transport and computers and in
some cases skilled staff. Inadequate salaries have resulted in a high turnover of
staff to better-remunerated jobs outside the URA.
Because the URA ministerial policy statement is derived from the Corporate plan,
it has the inherent weakness of not explicitly addressing gender concerns.
24
6 6. Gender Analysis of URA Budget for 2001/02 and 2002/03
6.1 Preparation of the URA Budget
The Budget of the URA is derived from the Consolidated fund, duly appropriated
by Parliament through the Vote of the MFPED under the budget of the Tax Policy
Department. The URA Board approves all the budgetary activities of the Authority
based on the annual business plan. The following tables provide a summary of the
URA Budget for 2001/02 and 2002/03.
Table 5 Summary of URA Recurrent & Development Budgets (bn Shs)
Item
Expenditure 2001/02 Budget 2002/03
Recurrent expenditure
43.903
44.55
Development expenditure
4.200
13. 2
Total
48.103
57.75
Table 6 Details of URA Development Budget (bn Shs)
Item
Expenditure Budget
2001/02
2002/03
Renovation of buildings
1.205
Office equipment &
machinery
Computerization
Office furniture & fittings –
Refurbishment
Major works
Motor vehicles – motorcycles
Total
0.309
0.182
0.043
11.2
0.317
0.7
1.942
4.199
1.50
13.2
Remarks
Headquarters building
Includes radio
equipment
Project
Better furniture & metallic
racks
Renovate 10 stations
Buy new vehicles
The above table reveals that the increase in the 2002/03 Capital or Development.
(The terms Capital Budget and Development Budget are used interchangeably)
Budget was largely a result of the computerization project.
Table 7 Summary of URA Recurrent Expenditure Activities (bn Shs)
Item
Expenditure 2001/02 Budget 2002/03
Staff Costs
29.72
30.79
Traveling and Transport
5.02
3.03
Repair and Maintenance
0.431
0.44
Other
8.701
6.25
Directors’ Expenses
0.033
0.494
Total
43.905
40.554
The Appendix provides details of the table.
25
7 Departmental allocations of the 2002/03 Budget
The allocation of the Budget for 2001/02 was based on the old structure, for which
staff data were not available. This information could not be provided by URA as
they had switched to the new computerized system. The analysis therefore
focuses on the Budget for 2002/03.
The summary departmental breakdown of the 2002/03 recurrent budget is shown
in the table below.
Table 8 URA Recurrent Budget for 2002/03 (Shs)
Staff costs O/W Salary Transport/ Travel Maintenance Other charges Board expenses
CG
2,242,970,329 1,125,461,916
CIATI 1,963,630,572
LEGAL 409,473,455
305,389,770
13,680,000
765,741,790
979,654,776
127,727,204
7,892,000
100,813,618
186,491,892
33,288,532
7,140,000
836,574,204
46,807,280
5,908,000
HR
2,002,409,363
FIN
2,244,487,594 1,084,098,156
ADMN 2,069,866,824
Total
-
3,327,781,889
-
2,200,063,394
44,830,000
494,731,987
318,794,724
-
2,373,919,367
128,023,956
16,140,000
326,836,687
-
2,715,488,237
841,063,584
527,519,604
111,380,000
573,203,161
-
3,281,969,589
678,024,648
71,797,704
11,760,000
196,739,640
-
1,663,084,558
1,362,793,688
-
10,131,574,982
ITCS
1,382,787,214
C&E
7,946,812,222 4,043,136,924
679,469,072
142,500,000
DDT
1,731,215,358
201,240,566
23,970,000
494,244,012
-
2,450,669,936
590,715,474
84,380,000
1,896,268,592
-
10,551,328,006
319,054,838
14,870,000
212,902,164
-
1,363,681,171
3,031,034,000
439,620,000
6,248,338,076
44,830,000
40,554,293,116
862,017,612
C&EX 7,979,963,940 4,035,012,780
RPS
816,854,169
420,043,644
30,790,471,040 15,091,580,136
The departmental breakdown of the 2002/03 development budget is shown in
the next table.
Table 9 URA Development Budget for 2002/03 (Shs)
Motor Vehicles
CG
CIATI
LEGAL
HR
FIN
ADMN
ITCS
C&E
DDT
C&EX
1,500,000,000
RPS
1,500,000,000
Furniture
Equipment Computerisation
10,000,000
2,000,000
3,000,000
7,600,000
31,000,000
55,750,000
4,250,000
93,105,000
22,610,000
86,405,000
5,000,000
1,000,000
2,000,000
21,140,000
15,000,000
67,300,000
11,340,000
56,500,000
2,000,000
3,000,000
317,720,000
182,280,000
26
11,200,000,000
11,200,000,000
Total
15,000,000
3,000,000
5,000,000
7,600,000
52,140,000
1,570,750,000
11,204,250,000
160,405,000
33,950,000
142,905,000
5,000,000
13,200,000,000
7.1 Activities that Affect Vulnerable Groups
The budgets are managed by departmental heads according to Departmental
Business Plans that are derived from the URA Corporate Plan. There are, however,
a few centralized common service activities that are managed by the
Administration Department. These include the purchase of vehicles, Information
Technology and the Corporate Service department for computerization.
The following allocations directly benefit vulnerable members of staff. ‘Vulnerable’
here is in the context of their relative working environments)

Hardship allowance mainly benefits staff who work under difficult conditions,
for example in Customs and field stations.

Medical allowance/insurance caters for medical expenses of staff and their
families. Children are major beneficiaries of this expenditure.

Death benefits are useful in supporting bereaved families of staff members.

Long service awards are provided to staff members who have offered long
service to the URA, usually 25 years. These awards and social security
contributions are beneficial to ageing staff members. There are very few
women who benefit, as women only entered this type of work relatively
recently.
27
8 Qualitative and Quantitative Gender Analysis
8.1 Uganda Government Tax Structure in 2001/02
The operational tax framework (tax structure) of the Uganda government is based
on the following categories of taxes administered by URA: International Traded
taxes, Domestic Direct taxes, Domestic Indirect taxes; Fees, Licenses and Charges
and Non-tax Revenue previously collected by central Government Ministries and
departments. The details of the structure have evolved over some time with trade
taxes comprising the largest portion (See Appendix 15 attached.
Taxes from international trade include VAT on imports, import duty, excise duty on
imports, import license commission and withholding tax on imports. The Customs
& Excise department administers these taxes.
Direct taxes include individual income taxes, Pay As You Earn (PAYE), corporation
tax, presumptive taxes, rental income tax, tax on bank interest and other
withholding taxes. These were previously administered under LTD and IRD. In the
revised URA structure, the assessment and audit function of these taxes is under
the department of Domestic Direct Taxes (DDT) while the collection is handled by
the department of Expansion and Collection.
Domestic turnover taxes are levied on domestically produced and traded goods
and services. They are classified as excise duty on local goods, VAT on services,
and VAT on locally manufactured goods. These were previously administered
under LTD and IRD. In the new structure their assessment and audit functions will
be handled by the department for Domestic Indirect Taxes (DIT), while the
collection function will be under the department of Expansion and Collection.
Non Tax Revenues for which the URA provides support and collection services to
other government departments include fees and licenses under the Traffic Act,
issuing of temporary road licenses, stamp duty and drivers’ permits. As from July
2001, URA was given the responsibility of collecting passport fees. In 2002/03, the
URA was mandated to collect additional fees. These include:

Migration fees for work permits, special passes, pupils’ passes, certificates of
residence, registration of Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and
penalties for illegal stay;

Land Transfer fees for documentation, processing lease extensions and
registration of titles;

Transport Regulation fees for all vehicles;

Company Regulation fees for registration of companies and businesses,
transfer of documents, patents and trade-marks;

High Court fees for advocates’ licenses, court brokers, and bailiffs licenses;

Radio and Television fees for private radio and television licenses; and

Mining fees for mining royalties, lease and exploration licenses.
28
Table 10 Revenue collection by broad category, 2001/02
Type of tax
Definition
% of total
International Trade Import/Export Taxes
52.2
Taxes
Direct taxes
Income Taxes
21.4
Indirect taxes
Consumption Taxes
27.2
Fees/Licences
& Charges
for
Government
2.4
Charges
Services
Non Tax revenue
Collections by Government,
1.1
dividends & profits
Total
100%
Remarks
Licenses
Including
Passports
Table 11 Breakdown of international trade taxes, 2001/02
Tax type
Definition
% of total
Remarks
Import duty
On dry cargo
9.7
Assessment
Excise duty on bulk
On petrol, diesel,
18.3
Assessment
petroleum
kerosene
Excise duty on dry Cargo
On dry goods
1.9
Assessment
VAT on imports
18.0
Assessment
Withholding tax on Imports
2.0
Assessment
Temporary Road license
0.5
Assessment
Import Commission
1.8
Assessment
Export Duty on Skins
0.0
Assessment
Taxes Paid by Government
1.1
Paid to BoU
Non oil Imports
0.3
Excise duty
0.1
VAT on Imports
0.7
Commission on Imports
0.0
Total
54.4%
Assessment means Examined and determined by URA in accordance with the tax
laws.
29
Table 12 Breakdown of domestic direct taxes, 2001/02
Tax type
Definition
% of
total
PAYE
Tax on employee income
11.3
Corporate Tax
Tax on Corporate Profits
5.7
Presumptive Tax
Tax on small tax payers < 5m
0.2
Withholding Tax
Supplies Tax withheld by
2.9
Government
Rental Income Tax 20% of gross rental income
0.5
Tax Bank Interest
15% of interest income
0.5
Other
Tax on Treasury Bills
0.0
Total
21.1%
Table 13 Breakdown of domestic indirect taxes, 2001/02
Tax type
Definition
Remarks
Withheld employer
Assessment
Estimate
Withheld
Assessment
Withheld
Withheld
% of total
Excise duty:
Cigarettes
Beer
Spirits/Waragi
Soft Drinks
Phone Talk time
(Tax Mainly for Revenue)
9.6
2.4
5.3
0.2
0.9
0.8
Value Added Tax (VAT):
Cigarettes
Beer
Spirit/Waragi
Soft Drinks
Other Goods
Services
Casino Tax
Total
(Tax Purely for Revenue)
17.6
0.4
1.7
0.1
0.6
6.1
8.7
0.0
27.2%
Remarks
Assessed
Assessed
The main reason for the tax is to raise revenue other taxes are levied for
protection of infant industries and redirecting economic activities of consumption
and production.
Table 14 Breakdown of user fees, licenses and charges, 2001/02
Revenue type
Definition
% of total
Fees & Licenses (Traffic Act)
Licensing Fees
1.9
Drivers Permits
0.2
Stamp duty & Embossing Fees
0.2
Total
2.3%
30
Remarks
Assessed
Table 15 Breakdown of non-tax revenues
Revenue type
Definition
Passport fees
Migration Fees
Land Transfer fees
Transport Regulation fees
Company Registration fees
High court fees
Radio/ Television fees
Mining Royalties
% of total
Regulatory Fees
0.17
Remarks
Only Passport fees
collected
The tables above are an illustration of relative contributions of each category of
revenue required in the TOR, they are not segregated according to the taxpayers
– a recommendation has been made about this.
8.2 Tax revenue performance for 2001/02
During the period July 2001 to July 2002, URA was expected to collect Shs
1,259.299 billion in taxes, but collected only Shs 1,212.471billion, giving a
performance of 96.3%. Much of the shortfall was attributed to the failure of the
assumptions upon which targets were based to materialize. One example is the
expected appreciation of Uganda shillings. In fact, the exchange rate remained
at 1740 Shs to one USD, compared to the original assumption of 1890 to one USD.
This lack of improvement affected import taxes. In addition, the policy change of
exempting raw materials import duty contributed to the shortfall in revenue
collection.
On the domestic taxes front, sales subject to local excise were much lower than
anticipated and this negatively affected the collections. There was a positive
performance in respect of corporate taxes, withholding tax, interest on bank
income, stamp duty, VAT on services, fees and licenses resulting in a surplus. The
table which follows compares the budget estimates with the outturn for 2001/02
and 2002/03.
Table 16 Comparison of budget revenue estimates and outturn, (Shs 000)
2001/02
Estimates
2001/02
Outturn
2002/03
Estimates
2002/03
Outturn
Performance Performance
2001/02
2002/03
Net URA collections (excl. Govt taxes & Refunds) 1,259,299,999 1,212,471,824 1,392,146,000 1,402,460,000
96.3%
100.7%
Gross Revenues
1,315,299,999 1,264,306,720 1,456,146,000 1,451,850,000
96.1%
99.7%
Direct Domestic Taxes, Fees & Licences
249,581,616 288,109,376 338,070,000 358,620,000
115.4%
106.1%
Indirect Domestic Taxes
345,718,383 329,889,243 376,130,000 357,650,000
95.4%
95.1%
Taxes on international Trade
700,000,000 633,256,302 721,946,000 722,450,000
90.5%
100.1%
65.3%
34.5%
Government Taxes
20,000,000
13,051,799
This data is corrected to one decimal point.
31
20,000,000
6,889,420
8.3 Impact of Taxation Policy on Women and Men
8.3.1 Difficulties in tax collection in Uganda
In Uganda like in all other countries taxation is so far the only practical means of
raising the revenue to finance government expenditure on public goods and
services. Setting up an efficient and fair tax system is, however, far from simple.
The majority of workers in Uganda are employed in agriculture or in small, informal
enterprises with irregular and fluctuating earnings. Many are paid in cash, ‘off the
books.’ The base for an income tax is therefore hard to calculate. Nor do people
in Uganda typically spend their income in large stores that keep accurate records
of sales and inventories. As a result income taxes and consumer taxes have a
minor role in total taxes paid by the majority of poor women and men. The major
VAT services mainly consumed by the well to do members of society such as hotel
accommodation, printing, cinema etc.
Second, it is difficult to create an efficient tax administration without a welleducated and well-trained tax staff. The poor wages paid to URA officials and the
lack of computerization of the operation, combined with inefficient telephone
and mail services contribute to the difficulties, as does the limited ability of
taxpayers have limited ability to prepare and keep accounts. The enthusiasm to
support URA has deteriorated over time below levels when it started.
Third, the informal structure of the economy has financial limitations. The Uganda
Bureau of Statistics has some difficulty in generating reliable statistics for the
informal sector. This makes assessment of the potential impact of major changes
to the tax system difficult. As a result, marginal changes are preferred to major
structural tax changes, perpetuating the inefficient tax structure.
Fourth, income is unevenly distributed in Uganda. The economic and political
power of rich taxpayers often allows them to prevent fiscal reforms that would
increase their tax burden. This makes personal income and property difficult to
tax.
In conclusion, in Uganda, tax policy is the art of the possible rather than the
pursuit of the optimal. This has resulted in law-abiding citizens being taxed more to
subsidize the others.
8.4 Composition of Tax Revenue
There are many conflicting theories about the optimum composition of tax
revenue. These involve the taxation of income relative to that of consumption, the
taxation of imports versus the taxation of domestic consumption and production.
Efficiency (whether the tax enhances or diminishes the overall welfare of those
who are taxed) and equity (whether the tax is fair to everybody) are central to
most analyses.
32
The convention that taxing income provides higher welfare (efficiency) than
taxing consumption is not well founded because of redistributive effect viz-a-vis
revenue productivity tradeoff. Motivation is an accepted convention, but
resource constraints are a hinderance. This makes theoretical considerations of
income and consumption taxes uncertain. The tax system in Uganda emphasizes
revenue rather than other aspects of development. The same applies to equity
considerations. Therefore the tax structure is guided by where revenue can be
obtained without much attention to equity and efficiency considerations.
With regard to taxes on imports, lowering these taxes will lead to more
competition from foreign enterprises. While reducing protection of domestic
industries from foreign competition is an inevitable consequence, or even the
objective, of a trade liberalization programme, reduced budgetary revenue
would be an unwelcome by-product of the programme. Feasible compensatory
revenue measures almost always involve increasing domestic consumption taxes,
which have very limited scope. At this point revenue from trade taxes contribute
more than 50% of total revenue.
At any given point of time, the important tax policy issue for Uganda is not so
much to determine the optimal tax mix as to spell out clearly the objectives to be
achieved by any contemplated tax change. There is need to carry out an
impact analysis to assess the economic and other consequences of such a tax
change, and to implement compensatory measures if the poor are made worse
off by the shift.
8.5 Selecting the Right Tax System
In Uganda market forces have a big resource allocation role. Uganda is a mixed
economy, however, the liberalized regime gives the market mechanism a
substantial role in resource allocation. The tax system is therefore meant to be as
neutral as possible so as to minimize interference in the allocation process. The
system should also have simple and transparent administrative procedures so that
it is clear how the system is to work.
Any discussion of personal income tax in Uganda starts with the observation that
this tax yields very little revenue, and the number of individuals subject to this tax is
small. Applying many rate brackets attains nominal progressivity in this tax. The
government is therefore reluctant to adopt reforms that will reduce the number of
these brackets. As discussed elsewhere in the report, this type of tax has little
bearing for poor women and men except to the extent that it can generate
revenue, which can be spent on expenditures, which benefit them.
Tax policy issues relating to corporate income tax are numerous and complex.
Particularly relevant for Uganda are the issues of multiple rates based on sectoral
differentiation and the incoherent design of the depreciation system.
33
Allowable depreciation of physical assets for tax purposes is an important
structural element in determining the cost of capital and the profitability of
investment. Calculations are difficult due to multiple depreciation rates and
types. Rectifying these shortcomings should receive a high priority in tax policy
deliberations. This tax is also of no direct relevance to poor women and men
although there could be indirect effects in terms of which sectors generate jobs,
and whether they generate more jobs for women or men.
While VAT has been adopted in most developing countries including Uganda, it
suffers from being incomplete. There is a substantial degree of cascading, which
increases the tax burden for the final user and reduces the benefits from
introducing VAT in the first place. Rectifying such limitations in VAT design and
administration should be given priority in Uganda. The threshold for VAT
registration of Shs 50 million annual turnover is too high and causes unnecessary
bureaucratic delays for producers and taxpayers. Those not registered for VAT
pay input taxes but are not legally allowed to charge output tax and are
exploited. The poor women and men who are below the registration threshold
cannot claim any VAT refunds from inputs to their production. This causes
exploitation alluded to above.
In Uganda excise duty is levied mainly for revenue reasons. Other reasons could
such as infant industry protection, redirecting consumption; production and
investment do not feature prominently. Excise duty is highly selective, narrowly
targeting a few goods mainly on the grounds that their consumption entails
negative externalities on society. The goods typically deemed to be excisable
are, for example, tobacco, alcohol, petroleum products, and motor vehicles,
used goods, and polythene bags.
Even if taxes on these goods were waived, the move would be of no significant
benefit to the poor people as they consume less Beer, Wines, Spirits, Soft drinks
e.g. soda, Juices, Cigarettes, Fuel, Airtime/Service fee on cellular phones, which
are excisable.
Reducing import tariffs as part of an overall programme of trade liberalization is a
major policy challenge currently facing Uganda. The tariff reduction should not
lead to unintended changes in the relative rates of effective protection across
sectors. The role of import taxes in Uganda cannot be overstated. The proportion
of import taxes is very high that special attention is paid to it.
8.6 Tax Policy Challenges Facing Uganda
Uganda needs a higher tax level if it is going to pursue a government role closer
to that of industrial countries, which, on average, enjoy thrice the tax revenue
relative to GDP. The tax to GDP ratio 12% yet the required ratio is 24% in order to
fully finance domestic expenditure requirements. We need to reduce reliance on
foreign trade taxes, without creating economic disincentives. We need to raise
34
more revenue from the difficult personal income tax. To meet these challenges,
policymakers have to get their policy priorities right and have the political will to
implement the necessary reforms. Tax administrations must be strengthened to
implement the needed policy changes.
As trade barriers come down and capital becomes more mobile, the formulation
of sound tax policy poses significant challenges for Uganda. The need to replace
foreign trade taxes with domestic taxes will be accompanied by growing
concerns about profit diversion by foreign investors, which weak provisions in the
tax laws against tax abuse as well as inadequate technical training of tax auditors
in Uganda are currently unable to deter. A concerted effort to eliminate these
deficiencies is therefore recommended.
Tax competition is another policy challenge in a world of liberalized capital
movement. The effectiveness of tax incentives in the absence of other necessary
fundamentals, economic efficiencies in resource allocation, is highly
questionable. A tax system that is riddled with such incentives inevitably provides
fertile grounds for rent-seeking activities. Uganda is therefore well advised to
refrain from reliance on poorly targeted tax incentives as the main vehicle for
investment promotion.
Finally, personal income taxes currently contribute very little to total tax revenue in
Uganda. Apart from structural, policy, and administrative considerations, the ease
with which income received by individuals can be invested abroad significantly
contributes to this situation.
35
8.7 Trends in tax collections over the last three years
Table 17 Trends in tax collections since 1999/2000 (‘000)
1999/2000
2000/01
2001/02
2002/03
Outturn
Outturn
Outturn
Outturn
Net URA collections (excluding Govt taxes & refunds) 979,112,335 1,075,155,394 1,212,471,824 1,402,460,000
Gross Revenues
1,031,581,311 1,125,399,054 1,264,306,720 1,451,850,000
Direct Domestic Taxes, Fees & Licences
180,273,337 222,873,180 288,109,376 358,620,000
Indirect Domestic Taxes
272,271,648 276,214,043 329,889,243 357,650,000
Taxes on international Trade
556,567,350 611,068,269 633,256,302 722,450,000
Government Taxes
22,468,976 15,243,660 13,051,799
6,889,420
These are collections where Gross revenues include government taxes and
refunds that do not contribute to the overall resources for expenditure.
Table 18 Growth in revenue collection 1999/2000 to date
2000/01
Outturn
9.8%
9.1%
23.6%
1.5%
9.8%
-32.2%
Net URA collections (excluding Govt taxes & refunds)
Gross Revenues
Direct Domestic Taxes, Fees & Licences
Indirect Domestic Taxes
Taxes on international Trade
Government Taxes
2001/02
Outturn
12.8%
12.3%
29.3%
19.4%
3.6%
-14.4%
2002/03
Outturn
15.7%
14.8%
24.5%
8.4%
14.1%
-47.2%
8.8 How much would be paid by men or women
From the data and the interviews conducted, it is not easy to estimate the
amounts of taxes paid by women and men. A Tax Identification Number (TIN) is
used to identify taxpayers but does not distinguish between a female and male
taxpayer. It would require additional software to dig deep into the database to
identify which TIN belongs to a female or male taxpayer. That process would only
be useful for individual income taxes such as PAYE. Appendix 8 contains the
calculations for PAYE paid by women and men staff of URA. The table suggests
that taxation based on PAYE is gender neutral, because 32% of the employees
are female and they pay 32% of the PAYE taxes of the URA. However, the
situation at URA is unlikely to be representative of the situation for the employed
population as a whole. This therefore does not give the complete picture
requiring a separate inquiry.
Gender-sensitive taxation is not about having different tax regimes for men and
women. Instead, it is about assessing the impact of all taxes on women, men,
different groups of women and men, and vulnerable members of the community.
36
Estimation of how much tax is paid by women is a purely analytical exercise to
assist in assessing this impact. Impact can also be assessed by looking at measures
for direct tax relief in respect of goods and services beneficial to vulnerable
groups, or at measures, which have indirect impact by influencing resource
allocation to different sectors.
8.9 Categories of poor women and men
In order to assess the impact of different taxes on poor women and men, it is
necessary to determine:
The categories of women and men who are regarded as poor in the Ugandan
context;

The categories of taxes that are levied in Uganda;

How taxes impact on social and economic activities;

Economic and social activities of the poor women and men in terms of
income, production, consumption and leisure.
Poverty is a relative term and is applied differently in different societies and
communities. For the purpose of this analysis we shall restrict the term poor to
apply to individuals and groups of people in the following categories.

peasant farmers;

rural landless;

urban unemployed;

school dropouts;

low paid formal sector workers; and

informal sector workers.
We could not give more of an indication of the gender make-up of the groups
discussed below because statistical data available does not give such a
breakdown. An appropriate recommendation has been made
8.9.1 Peasant farmers
These comprise the majority of women who derive their livelihood from
subsistence production. In most cases they produce for home consumption with
very little if any for sale. They are however, confronted with the need for money
for school fees, and for manufactured essential livelihood goods such as clothing,
shelter, and food. Often they have very little to set aside for leisure, which is an
important ingredient of the quality of life. They also have very little access to
modern inputs in their production due to the high prices of such inputs.
8.9.2 Rural landless people
These people survive from community handouts and through providing labour to
those who have land. Earnings derived from these sources are mainly used for
survival with very little left to purchase essential manufactured goods, food,
clothing, medicine and shelter.
37
8.9.3 The urban unemployed
These are people who are in urban areas searching for employment but have not
got jobs. There are also people who carry out petty activities, some of which are
regarded as illegal such as prostitution and pick pocketing. Some do odd jobs in
order to earn a living.
8.9.4 School dropouts
The majority of these people are children who drop out of school for various
reasons. Girls dominate in this category because when there is a shortage of
money to pay school fees in a family, girl children are usually sacrificed in order to
keep boys in school. Other reasons for girls to drop out include early pregnancy
where school policies do not allow pregnant students to continue. Many of the
school dropouts end up as street children. Sometimes loss of parents through wars
and epidemics such as AIDS result in school dropouts. These people live mainly on
handouts and petty trade/activities. Traditional culture has been generally
negative about girl child education in preference for boys even where parents
are alive.
8.9.5 Low paid formal sector workers
There are two forms of low payment to formal sector workers that result in their
being poor, namely pecuniary/monetary and non-pecuniary.
The pecuniary form of under/low payment to workers is in the form of wages
which are not sufficient to cater for the basic needs of their households. Uganda
has minimum wage laws that require employers to pay an amount that is
sufficient to provide for the basic needs of their workers e.g. clothing, shelter,
food, education and health. Employees in organizations/firms that do not comply
with the minimum wage legislation may be subjected to this form of
underpayment.
A second type of pecuniary underpayment occurs where the minimum wage is in
place but does not reflect the high cost of living brought about by inflation. This
affects fixed income earners because high inflationary rates erode the real value
of their wages and salaries. In the formal sector this is usually common in
organizations that either lack trade unions or those with weak bargaining powers.
It is also common in the public service, where the minimum wage takes long to be
revised due to bureaucratic tendencies.
Another way in which formal sector workers can be underpaid is where their basic
needs like housing, transport, medical needs are neither monetised nor provided
as fringe benefits by their employers. When benefits are provided by an employer
in kind then they are not monetised. In most cases employees are given money to
cater for certain facilities, e.g. housing allowance rather than housing them.
On the non-pecuniary side, these are cases where workers work longer hours than
their wage seems to merit, even if these earnings may appear to be sufficient in
38
absolute terms. Examples include the banking sector and some employees of
Asian enterprises. This involves underpayment for labour services provided.
The second form of non-pecuniary underpayment involves those whose earnings
are unpredictable or seasonal. These workers may earn enough for only a small
part of the year. One example is plantation agricultural workers.
A third form of non-pecuniary low payment is where workers are not given social
entitlements like annual leave, sick and maternity leave, protective gear, etc. The
final one is where workers may receive substantial incomes but are not provided
with benefits such as pensions.
8.9.6 Informal sector workers
Low payment in the informal sector is primarily due to the lack of legal status that
would compel the employer to provide a minimum wage. Secondly the policy of
liberalization gives informal sector employers the liberty to determine their wage
rate in a way that maximizes profit. There was a minimum wage applicable to
both the formal and informal sector before liberalization.
By definition, in the informal sector the legal provisions for the establishment of
workers unions to advocate for their rights in terms of higher pay and other
benefits, are not enforceable. In Uganda laws do not explicitly exclude the
informal sector, however, it is difficult to police and enforce laws in the informal
sector. Therefore workers are generally exploited under this arrangement.
Employees in the informal sector have a legal framework for bargaining, e.g.
trade unions but are not very active due to liberalization and weak labour laws.
Jobs are also less secure in the informal sector. The firms are ‘footloose’ in nature,
they have minimal capital and can switch from one trade to another or one
place to another. The workers are subjected to poor working conditions ‘Jua Kali’
and do not have protective gear.
Because informal sector firms are not registered in any way, it is difficult to subject
their employees to income taxes. They also find it difficult to access fiscal benefits
such as tax holidays, refunds, rebates, subsidies etc. They are however, subject to
indirect taxes applicable to consumption and production, with no opportunity for
refund. Informal sectors include child labourers, house/bar maids, and restaurant
operators in ‘Sauri yako’ who are mainly women. Market vendors, hawkers, taxi
touts and shamba boys also fall in this category.
8.10 How Taxes Impact on Social and Economic Activities
Taxes impact on social and economic activities of people through a direct
reduction in their income or indirectly through an increase in the prices of
consumer and producer goods.
39
8.10.1 Impact of Direct Domestic Taxes on the Poor
Poor people – poor women, poor men, poor children and other vulnerable groups
– are not subject to income tax as they generally fall below the threshold for
income tax which is Shs 1,560,000 per annum. Some argue that this figure does not
provide the basket of basic needs, but that debate is outside the scope the terms
of reference of this study.
There are also thresholds for PAYE, illustrated in appendix 8, which are applicable
to formal workers. These thresholds exclude all informal sector workers, the
majority of whom are poor. Because they are informal and difficult to police even
if they earn above the threshold. Corporate and interest tax are outside the
scope of tax payable by the poor. The poor who rent, rather than own, their
dwellings pay rental income tax. Property tax would be a preferred mode, but it
has problems already alluded to in this report. Property is owned by rich
businessmen and politicians who have the capacity to prevent any actions that
increase their fiscal burdens, they are either decision makers or connected to
them. User fees on public services impact on poor members of the society. The
distinction between a tax and user fee is that you donnot get a direct benefit
back from a tax , but for user fees you get a service in return eg medical.
8.10.2 Impact of Indirect Taxes on the Poor
Indirect taxes impact on people via prices. These result from the ability of the
taxed entity to pass the burden of the tax onto the final buyer of the good or
service. The ‘incidence’ of a tax refers to where the burden of that tax ultimately
rests. The ability to shift the burden depends on the elasticity of demand for the
good or service. A good or service, which is an extreme necessity, with no close
alternative, has a very low elasticity. Where a commodity has this character, most
of the tax is passed to the final consumer. Most of the goods and services
consumed by poor women and men fall in the category of necessities with low
elasticity of demand. Basic food and medicines is exempted from VAT.
Indirect taxes can also affect the productivity of poor women and men where
they are imposed on the inputs used by them. Inputs used include:

Small-scale food preparation enterprises and cottage industries: Inputs
include fuel (paraffin), water for production including irrigation and valley
dams, plates, protective gear for riders, insurance for road users, etc
Ultimately transport is for food, inputs and passengers who foot the bill;

Peasant agriculture: Inputs include hoes, pangas, improved seeds,
pesticides, herbicides, fertilizers, water, and animal (veterinary) medicines.

Small scale fishing: Inputs include, fishing gear (nets, hooks, floater), water
safety equipment e.g. life jackets.

Petty trade/market vending: Inputs include weighing scales, juice makers,
popcorn makers, groundnut pastes makers, salt, sugar etc.
Indirect taxes can also affect poor people when they are imposed on inputs of
goods and services consumed by them. These include:
40




Care centres for the elderly and children: Inputs include reproductive and
surgical equipment, clothing, bedding, food, human medicines, children
toys.
Public transport: Inputs include fuel, road equipment, and rail fuel. This
industry facilitates movement of poor people to access markets, health and
education and other public facilities.
Basic shelter: Inputs include nails, corrugated iron roofing sheets, paint locks
and hinges. Shelter is an essential ingredient of productivity and well-being.
Basic healthcare: Inputs include surgical, maternity and clinic equipment,
syringes, dental health equipment, water, and surgical gloves and human
medicines of all categories. Some antibiotics under chapter 29 of the
Finance Act are subject to tax. medicines are not subject to tax.
Inputs to these small-scale industries and activities need to incur lower indirect
taxes as they directly improve productivity of the poor women and men. The ones
related to Small Scale Industries should attract lower indirect tax rates because of
their impact on the poor women and men.
Indirect taxes can also affect the consumption of poor women and men, girls and
boys and other vulnerable groups In particular, poor women and men are
affected by indirect taxes on basic necessities, i.e. food, clothing, and
educational materials.
Food is essential for all people. Poor people rely on food such as grain cereals
(maize, sorghum etc.), milled cereals (posho, tubers and roots), legumes (beans
peas, etc.), cooking oil, meat, fish, etc. Basically all food items fall in this category.
Most of these commodities are not subjected to local VAT and excise duty. The
trade taxes on these commodities are mainly aimed at promoting their local
production and consumption.
Clothing is also an essential good for all clothing. The types of clothing used by
the poor include used and worn clothing, and worn shoes. These items have an
excise duty imposed on them. The aim is to protect local industries, but the duty
hurts poor women and men.
Education is an essential service that is necessary for getting people out of
poverty, ignorance and disease. Education itself and educational materials
should be exempted from taxes.
8.11 Gender analysis of taxation of goods mainly used by women in
Finance Act 2002
The wide-ranging work that Ugandan women do in the care economy without
explicit financial consideration is a form of tax. Some scholars call it a
‘reproductive tax’. There is therefore a need to provide direct fiscal benefits to
women members of society in recognition of this contribution in order to enhance
41
their productivity. There are three main categories of goods which are mainly
used by women through which these benefits could be provided: (a) items of
reproductive health and hygiene; (b) items that support the care economy such
as childcare; and (c) items that have an impact on time use and leisure.
Items with an impact on reproductive health and hygiene include toilet soap and
soap for washing clothes, sanitary towels and pads, hair shampoos and mosquito
nets; maternity equipment and maternity clothes.
Items with an impact on time use are goods that help women save time for more
productive work. These include energy/power for cooking, paraffin, household
dishwashers, hoovers. There is a number of poor people even in urban areas
where there is electricity. Tax relief on clothes washers, and cookers. Tax relief on
these items can go a long way in improving productivity of women.
Items with an impact on the care economy include goods relating to childcare,
care of the sick and elderly and domestic work. These include items for child day
care facilities, children’s foods such as Baby foods, infant milk etc. mosquito nets,
toys, children’s clothing and child toiletries, and equipment for care of the elderly.
$$Items with an impact on leisure include commodities, which are used for the
leisure of mainly women. Beauty and make up products are found in chapter 33
of the Finance Act. These commodities are heavily taxed, including an excise
duty of 10% besides the full range of the other taxes ie. non-COMESA Import duty
of 15%, COMESA duty of 6%, VAT of 17%. These goods are taxed heavily because
it is believed that these are consumed by well-to-do women. But leisure is an
important ingredient in productivity. And sex workers use these items as inputs to
their trade. Saloon equipment and hair oils also fall in this category. There is no
evidence that this form of tax relief is very productive, as it will result in revenue
shortfalls for vital expenditure.
42
9 Gender Analysis of Tax Reform Measures
9.1 Tax Policy Reforms for 2001/02
As explained above, MFPED prepares tax proposals and presents them to
Parliament. It makes these proposals in the form of a Finance Bill, with a request
for it to be passed and so become a Finance Act. The Finance Bill 2001 was
presented to Parliament in June 2001. There eight primary objectives of the Bill
were:

Protection of certain manufacturers;

Raising additional revenue to finance the expenditure requirements;

Providing a predictable taxation regime conducive to long-term investment
planning;

Harmonization of tariffs both for goods originating within and outside the
COMESA region as the Country looks at regional integration as well as
building a competitive open economy;

Providing discretionary tax exemption of certain raw materials which are
strategic to the export sector;

Promotion of the domestic capital markets by allowing deduction of
expenses on initial public offerings;

Broadening the income tax net by plugging loopholes in the Income Tax Act
of 1997;

Strengthening administrative measures aimed at improving revenue
collection and promoting voluntary compliance.
9.1.1 Cigarettes and petroleum
A notable change in the Finance Act 2002. Let me clarify the The Finance Bill 2001
is the draft of the Finance Act 2002 in which there was the introduction of tax
stamps on cigarettes and marking (coding) of petroleum by SGS. Societe’
Generalle De Survellance (SGS) is an international import preshipment inspection
firm. These measures were introduced to curb smuggling of cigarettes and bulk
petroleum. The tax stamp measure was applicable for both locally produced and
imported cigarettes and was intended both to protect local tobacco production
and to raise revenue.
9.1.2 Zero Rated and Exempted Items
In the Finance Bill of 2001, various items had taxes remitted to zero or were
exempted completely from tax. These include vanilla, roasted malt, hop cones,
some oils, malt extracts and food preparations of flour, bentonite, gypsum,
anhydrite plasters, cement clinkers, kerosene type jet fuel, various raw materials,
and various chemical materials used mainly for food preservation and colour as
well as for medical purposes. Others in this category of the zero-rated and
exempted goods included other natural rubber, balata, solution dispersion,
newsprints in rolls of sheet, paper excluding mechanical, unbleached paper, high
tenacity yarn polyesters, synthetic filament tow of polyester, and others, artificial
filament tows, synthetic staple fibres, of arcrylic or modacrylic, textile fabrics
43
impregnated with polyvinyl chloride and looped pile fabrics of man-made fibres,
knitted or crocheted, coils of iron of various thickness, various metallic products or
zinc coated, bicycles, barbers’ and hairdressers' chairs, and pen nibs and nib
points. In addition, items for manufacture and packaging of pharmaceutical
products and disposable syringes, and raw materials for specified products had
their taxes removed.
9.1.3 Reduction in Import Duty
The 2001 Finance Bill proposed reduction in import duty is aimed at reducing
import duty on various categories listed in the Appendix 13. from 15% to 7%. The
reduction from 15% to 7% for a large number of items was intended to support
production of the outputs. Items on which import duty was remitted to 7% and
excise duty to nil items for use in the manufacture of the following products:
mattresses; biscuits, sweets, soft drinks and beer; suitcases and bags; soap
garments; cosmetics; perfumes; carbon-dioxide; juices; manufacturers/assemblers
of electronics; distilled spirit; drinking straws; bicycles, parts & components,
exercisers, trolleys & push carts; furniture, and pharmaceutical products &
disposable syringes. This support was not directly targeting poor people but might
benefit by default as these were considered as inputs for industrialization with
employment prospects for the poor.
9.1.4 Value Added Tax (VAT)
The Value Added Tax remained at 17% for all items except for those that are zerorated or exempted from taxation.
9.1.5 Excise Duty
Table 19 reveals that the Bill proposed an increase in excise duty on cigarettes
from 122% to 130% and on beer from 60% to 70%. Duty on soft drinks remained at
20%, and on spirits at 45%. The impact of these changes is discussed in the
revenue analysis above. These are marginal changes with no significant impact.
Table 19 Excise duty rates on major local goods
Category Act of 2001 Act of 2002 Effective Change
Beers
60%
70%
10%
Cigarettes
122%
130%
8%
Soft Drinks
20%
20%
0%
Spirits
45%
45%
0%
The 2001 Finance Bill. One is a draft the other is an approved version with only
minor changes proposed a removal of excise duty from 20 categories of
excisable items. With the exemption of only one category (namely, Ethyl alcohol
and other spirits, denatured, of any strength) for which excise duty was remitted
from 65% to zero, all the other items for which duty has been remitted completely
had excise tariffs remitted from a range of 10 - 15% in the 2001 Finance Bill. These
are summarized in Appendix 13;
44
An exception in the removal of excise duty is worn clothing (second-hand
clothes) and other worn articles as well as rags which had an anti-dumping excise
duty reduced from 15% to 10%. These changes were aimed largely at easing the
protectionist policy.
The excise duty payable in respect of paraffin for
manufacturers of carbon dioxide is to be remitted from a specific duty rate of
UShs 200 per litre to UShs 45.15 per litre.
9.1.6 Non-tax revenue
There were no major changes on rates applicable to non-tax revenue. Fees and
licences governed by the Traffic Act attracted only minor increases. Stamp duties
and varied from one category to the other some on land titles to registration of
companies, and contracts. Most rates were set at 1% and 0.5% of the value of the
property item. Some were charged at 100/- per document/transaction. Others
like the memorandum and articles of association of a company, were charged
on a fixed rate of 10,000/-.
Proposed Changes in the Application of the Income Tax Act, 1997
The 2001/02 budget proposed a number of changes in the application of the
Income Tax law aimed primarily at eliminating the loopholes in the law, but also
aimed at applying the law uniformly to all income earners within Uganda and for
both residents and non-residents. The changes in the Income Tax Act, 1997
included:

Deduction of duty in expenses on initial public offerings;

The introduction of a with-holding tax of 4% on resident professionals;

Removal of tax exempt status of interest earned on Treasury Bills and Bank of
Uganda Bills;

A provision allowing an employer to deduct income tax liabilities expenses
incurred in respect of any housing allowance or housing provided to
employees;

Inclusion of rent in the taxable bracket for any non-resident person who
derives rent from sources in Uganda; and

Inclusion of non-resident road transport operators in the income tax net.
The first change aimed to promote the development of domestic capital markets
by encouraging companies to list on the stock exchange. When a company lists,
there must be full information disclosure of the companies' liabilities and assets.
The change was intended to protect the concerned companies from additional
taxation arising from disclosure process.
The second change aimed to tax the income of professionals. In the past this has
presented difficulties as many professionals have not filed income tax returns on
which tax assessment could be made. A 4% withholding tax enables the
collection of the tax at source.
45
The removal of the tax-exempt status of Treasury Bills and Bank of Uganda Bills
aims to bring about equity and uniformity in the application of the Income Tax
Law. The previous tax exemption status was necessary to develop a secondary
market in Government securities.
The fourth provision was aimed at removing an anomaly in the Income Tax Act.
Because housing benefits are part of taxable income for the employee, unless
they are tax deductible to the employer, they will be subject to double taxation.
Making housing benefits deductible for the employer simply treats these benefits
in the same way as other forms of employee’s remuneration, which are
deductible for the employer when computing the tax on profits.
The final two provisions are intended to capture the incomes of non-residents who
have invested in Uganda in the housing and transport sectors. This levels the
ground for a competitive environment for both resident and non-resident investors
in these sectors. Most of the non-resident companies are owned by men hence
reducing the gender gap.
9.2 Tax Administration Challenges
The application of some tariffs will be subject to discretionary decisions. For
example, there will be discretionary decisions on whether paraffin is for the
manufacture of carbon dioxide (in which case it would attract a specific duty
rate of only Shs 45.15 per litre), or whether it is for other purposes (where it would
attract a specific rate of Shs 200 per litre). Other discretionary decisions will have
to be made as regards those items. The problem with discretionary decisions is
that they create loopholes in tax administration, often leading to loss of revenue
and unfair treatment of taxpayers.
Another administrative challenge is that the current generally Finance Bills and
Acts are very complex documents. This can create problems for understanding by
both taxpayers and tax collectors. This, in turn, leads to confusion among
taxpayers about their tax obligations. Monitoring the correctness of declarations
and assessments is also cumbersome
9.3 Tax Policy Changes for 2002/03
The Finance Bill 2002 was presented to Parliament in June 2002. It had the
following objectives:

To increase revenue collections for funding expenditures of the Government;

To improve voluntary compliance and reduce incidences of tax evasion,
avoidance, fraud and smuggling;

To reduce anti-export bias;

To encourage value addition on exports and production of manufactured
exports;

To provide effective protection to infant domestic industries;
46


To broaden the tax base by bringing some informal sector activities into the
tax net; and
General harmonization of taxes as a move towards regional integration.
9.3.1 Major tax proposals
There was a Shs 30 increase in the specific excise duty on petrol (PMS) Petrol from
Shs 580 to Shs 610. Oil companies, who operate in a cartel, prevented this
measure from meeting the intended objective as they subsequently increased
the prices of all their products. The prices were increased by a further margin of
Shs 20 across the board for PMS a total price rise of Shs 50 and Shs 20 respectively
for paraffin (BIK) and diesel (AGO) respectively. To distinguish between increase in
tax and attendant increase in the price more than the tax change. Since oil
companies give generous gifts to consumers, there is scope for price reductions.
However, the cartel agreed not to effect these. The gifts are not provided
transparently as would be the case with price reduction. This is clear abuse of
cartel powers. The Government ought to take a stand to prevent cartels. Tax on
fuel affects the poor via high prices of public transport.
There was a 15% levy on FOB/FOR exports of raw hides and skins of bovine
animals. This provides motivation to add value to the product before export.
A 10% excise duty on all vehicles except commercial vehicles was introduced
purely as a means to increase revenue. People who want these vehicles will
continue to import them but in reduced quantities, yet growth in consumption of
petroleum is projected. This is a contradictory implication of the two measures.
A 5% increase in excise duty on used clothing and 10% excise duty on used shoes
was introduced. These are reasonable revenue measures as they promote local
production of the products and also bring the informal sector into the tax base.
An increase in fees and charges applicable to motor vehicles under the Traffic
and Road Safety Act was introduced. In particular, there was an increase in
deregistration for export fees for agricultural tractors from Shs 200,000 to
Shs400,000. This reduced the incentive for abuse through re-export of low duty
vehicles like commercial vehicles, minibuses, and engineering plants and related
vehicles.
A proposal to introduce a 20% excise duty on polythene bags and plastic
containers was raised by Parliament to 50% for environmental reasons. It was
expected to promote use of decomposable substitutes.
Awarding of Government contracts to VAT-registered firms included in the Budget
Speech for 2002) is a good policy to promote voluntary compliance in VAT
registration. But this policy is in conflict with the minimum threshold of Shs 50m
turnover required for registration as it prevents small investors and suppliers from
obtaining Government contracts. This needs to be revisited.
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The Bill introduced a 10% reduction of the excise duty on beer from 70% to 60%.
Implying a policy reversal. This can be productive in terms of revenue
enhancement only if the beer industry reduces their prices to result in increased
consumption and production.
Removal of VAT on computers and accessories promotes computerization and ecommerce. It will, however, introduce an administrative burden to ensure that
other goods similar to computers are not classified as computers or accessories for
purposes of benefiting from this facility.
The increase in excise duty on sugar from 10% to 20% increases the administrative
burden and incentive for smuggling sugar. Smuggling mainly takes the form of reexport and transit damping into the local market. Sugar is high on the
consumption menu of vulnerable groups of women, children and the elderly.
Manufacturing under bond should be strengthened coupled with careful
calculation by input-output ratios for monitoring conversion of highly risky due to
mis-declaration about how much raw materials were turned to finished goods.
Extension of the warehousing period for motor vehicles from 12 months to 20
months provides scope for vehicles to be bought and warehoused mainly for
vandalizing to obtain replacement parts. The longer the warehousing period, the
more revenue is tied up, the more resources are needed for control, and the
larger the chances for abuse.
Certification of vehicles by a ‘competent authority’ in the country of origin is
definitely open to abuse. It is not clear what the sanctions for non-compliance
will be. Most countries that produce vehicles, which they do not need, will do
anything to ensure that the export process takes off. Appropriate sanctions need
to be developed and enforced.
The measure to exempt the Bank of Uganda from income tax was ill advised, as it
has no relevance to the poor.
VAT at 17% was introduced on imports of:

Flour and meal of dried legumes,

Flour and meal of sago roots and tubers,

Flour and meal of powder of certain products,

Spirit type jet fuel.
This will hurt the poor who import these products. This particular one is on imports
only as a policy but has the benefit of promoting their local production.
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9.3.2 Challenges for the Tax Policies
The Parliamentary debates on the tax proposals after the debate on expenditure
proposals leave very little scope for adjusting the tax proposals downwards as
budgets are already constrained by the level of the budget deficits.
There was reasonable scope for meeting revenue projections for 2002/03 as the
assumptions upon which these projections were based seemed to be reasonable.
The Ministry of Finance complemented this with effective supervision of URA and
the introduction of a Commission of inquiry. This Judicial Commission of Inquiry into
the alleged corruption in the URA.
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10 Gender Analysis of Tax Incentives
While granting tax incentives to promote investment is common in Uganda, there
is no evidence to prove their effectiveness in attracting additional investments.
Tax incentives have often been abused by existing enterprises disguised as new
ones through nominal reorganization. Moreover, foreign investors are the primary
target of most tax incentives and they base their decision to enter the country on
a whole host of factors (such as natural resources, political stability, transparent
regulatory systems, infrastructure, a skilled workforce), of which tax incentives are
frequently far from being the most important one.
In addition, not all incentives are equally suited for achieving objectives of
attracting new investments and some are less cost-effective than others.
Unfortunately, the most prevalent forms of incentives found in Uganda tend to
lack merit.
10.1 Tax Holidays
Of all the forms of tax incentives, tax holidays (exemptions from paying tax for a
certain period of time) are the most popular in Uganda. They are governed by
the Uganda Investment Code, which is administered by UIA. Although they are
attractive to impose, they have numerous shortcomings. First, by exempting profits
irrespective of their amount, tax holidays tend to benefit an investor who expects
high profits and would have made the investment even if this incentive were not
offered. In addition, they are difficult to administer , attract short lifespan projects,
provide scope for tax avoidance and companies extend the duration of the
holidays by changing the names of the project when the holiday ends.
In administering these measures, the government spends resources that yield no
revenue and the enterprise loses the advantage of not having to deal with tax
authorities. ‘Briefcase businesses’ tend to increase in number under this incentive
regime.
The poor have no direct benefit from tax holidays granted by the government. It
is believed that they generate employment for the poor but this requires empirical
proof.
10.2 Tax Credits and Investment Allowances
One example of tax credits and investment allowances in Uganda is the Fixed
Duty Drawback (FDD) scheme. Compared with tax holidays, tax credits and
investment allowances have a number of advantages. They are much better
targeted than tax holidays for promoting particular types of investment and their
revenue cost is much more transparent and easier to control. These are offered
mainly to promote exports. Imported inputs are taxed and a refund is made when
export of the finished product occurs. A system of investment allowances could
be administered in much the same way as tax credits, achieving similar results.
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Despite the advantages described above, poor women and men do not benefit
directly from tax credits and investment allowances.
10.3 Accelerated Depreciation
Providing tax incentives in the form of accelerated depreciation has fewer of the
shortcomings associated with tax holidays, and none of the disadvantages of tax
credits and investment allowances. Accelerated depreciation is provided to
companies in respect to corporation or income tax. Poor people do not benefit
from this tax incentive as they do not own companies or pay income tax.
10.4 Investment Subsidies
While investment subsidies (providing public funds for private investments) have
the advantage of easy targeting, they also have problems. They involve out-ofpocket expenditure by the government upfront and they may benefit nonviable
investments as much as profitable ones. The use of subsidies to promote
investment is not generally advisable as they are difficult to administer. The
Government has several targeted interventions in the form of ‘Entandikwa’,
‘Youth Entrepreneur Schemes’ and micro-credit schemes in the Office of the
Prime Minister. These benefit some poor people but the extent of the benefits
requires empirical test. There is no gender deliberate distinction in the
administration of these schemes.
10.5 Indirect Tax Incentives
Indirect tax incentives, such as those that exempt raw materials and capital
goods from VAT, are prone to abuse and are of doubtful utility. Exempting raw
materials and capital goods used to produce exports and local production from
import tariffs are somewhat more justifiable. The difficulty with this exemption lies in
ensuring that the exempted purchases will, in fact, be used as intended by the
incentive. Establishing export production zones whose perimeters are secured by
customs controls is a useful, although not entirely foolproof, remedy for this abuse.
This aspect has been extensively used in the Finance Act are essential for
industrialization and job creation that benefits the poor. In Uganda these are new
schemes, which have not been practically tested. There is scope for labour
exploitation in these schemes that mainly employ women. Government needs to
pay attention to the plight of the workers.
10.6 Administrative Mechanisms
The mechanism by which tax incentives can be triggered can be either
automatic or discretionary. An automatic triggering mechanism allows the
enterprise to receive the incentives automatically once it satisfies clearly specified
objective qualifying criteria, such as a minimum amount of investment in certain
sectors of the economy. The relevant authorities have merely to ensure that the
qualifying criteria are met.
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A discretionary triggering mechanism involves approving or denying an
application for incentives on the basis of subjective value judgment by the
incentive-granting authorities, without formally stated qualifying criteria.
Information about these is not readily available to enable firm judgment. The
authorities may see a discretionary triggering mechanism as preferable to an
automatic one because it provides them with more flexibility. This advantage is
likely to be outweighed, however, by a variety of problems associated with
discretion, most notably a lack of transparency in the decision-making process,
which could in turn encourage corruption in providing the incentives. The
automatic triggering mechanism has the shortcoming of the loss of discretion in
handling exceptional cases.
10.7 Conclusion
While incentives can be useful in promoting investment and industrialization, there
is no evidence of direct support to poor women and men. Most of the incentives
go to the rich and foreign investors. In some cases, impact might ‘trickle down’
through employment creation and production of cheaper local goods used by
the poor. For greater direct benefit to the poor, targeted investment subsidies and
targeted credit could be investigated. However, generally the administration of
incentives is difficult and open to abuse. Often the objectives are hard to attain.
The cost-effectiveness of providing tax incentives to promote investment is
generally questionable. The best strategy for sustained investment promotion is to
provide a stable and transparent legal and regulatory framework and to put in
place a tax system in line with standard norms. Some objectives, such as those
that encourage regional development, are more justifiable than others as a basis
for granting tax incentives. Not all tax incentives are equally effective.
Accelerated depreciation has the most comparative merits, followed by
investment allowances or tax credits. Tax holidays and investment subsidies are
among the least meritorious. As a general rule, indirect tax incentives should be
avoided, and discretion in granting incentives should be minimized.
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11 Findings and Conclusions
Taxes are always necessary as a means of raising resources for financing public
expenditure. Besides raising revenue, other social and economic objectives are
pursued by way of taxation, including redistribution. In order to influence a tax
system, the reasons why a particular tax was imposed need to be appreciated.
Tax policies are generally considered to be very sensitive aspects of public policy.
As a result, there is a lot of reluctance by responsible officials in supplying primary
data on government tax plans. This reluctance has some merits, as advance tax
information impacts on the behavior of the prospective taxpayers and could
defeat the objectives of the tax policies. Care needs to be taken in negotiating
access to public information in the absence of the information law. The
Government should be encouraged to enact the ‘Access to information Law’
prescribed in Article 41 of the Constitution. The purpose of advance information is
to discuss whether the proposed changes are pro poor but the rich get the
information faster and use it to the disadvantage of the poor.
There are a number of actors in tax policy and tax administration. The roles and
interests of each of these actors need to be understood in order to effectively
rally support for addressing gender concerns in tax policy formulation and
administration.
There is an adequate mandate for engendering Uganda’s national policies and
programmes in specific United Nations general assembly resolutions to which
Uganda is party. Specific articles in Chapter 4 of the Uganda Constitution and
other laws strengthen the mandate and case for a gender assessment of public
policy.
There is a general lack of appreciation and misunderstanding between sex
concerns as opposed to gender concerns among policy makers. There is a need
to improve sensitization of policy makers in this respect.
Gender budget methodologies for analysing revenue are less well developed
than those for analysing expenditure. However, revenue methodologies can draw
on methodologies for expenditure with appropriate variations. Given the relative
lack of attention to revenue aspects world-wide, FOWODE’s initiative in this area
should be highly commended and appropriately supported.
The URA is well organized and has met the targets of revenue set by MFPED
through measures outlined in their planning documents, i.e. the medium term
Corporate Plans and Annual Business Plans. While women hold key leadership
responsibilities in URA, this has occurred mainly by default and not by design.
There is no evidence of deliberate efforts to deal with matters of gender balance
in tax administration. URA policy statements should deliberately set gender
53
objectives and implement them. The Human Resource Manual is also generally
silent about concerns of gender balance.
While female staff are fewer in number than male staff, there is no evidence of
discrimination in pay between the female and male workers in URA. PAYE is also
paid equitably by both female and male staff in accordance with their earnings,
as provided for by the Income tax laws. The fact that PAYE is regressive is a
matter of concern that can be subjected to a separate inquiry. This entails
dealing with incomes and employment in the whole economy, clearly outside,
the part in TOR about URA was discussed.
Trade taxes account for the largest potion of total taxes, indeed more than 50%.
This discourages exports and acts as a deterrent to regional integration. Tax
reform efforts should be geared towards reducing the role of trade taxes in tax
revenue. Efforts should be geared increasing local productivity and regularizing
the informal sector so that it makes appropriate contributions to taxes. More nontax revenue sources should be moved to URA for collection.
Tax policy in Uganda is riddled with a number of difficulties ranging from lack of
data on informal sector incomes, poor tax administration due to poor motivation
and facilitation of URA staff, through to pockets of economic and political powers
that prevent tax reforms that increase their tax burdens. All these obstacles need
to be examined in order to facilitate a meaningful tax reform programme.
Presently tax policy is about the art of what is possible rather than what is optimal.
There is no evidence that the present tax structure in Uganda is, strictly speaking,
based on equity or efficiency considerations. There is also fear among policy
makers about making major changes in the tax structure. As a result changes in
taxation policy tend to be incremental. There is a need to develop an efficient
and equitable taxation system based on an assessment of the needs and priorities
of women, men and marginalized groups, and the gender implications of
different tax systems.
When dealing with poor women and men, the role of direct taxes on income,
profits and interest have no major significance, as there is a threshold below
which tax is not levied. The matter of the optimality of the threshold should be the
subject of further inquiry. Available tax / labour data is not disaggregated by
gender.
Majority of poor men and women are mainly subjected to indirect taxes,
especially VAT on local and imported goods. These taxes increase the price of
the consumption goods and services of the poor and of their inputs. This is an
issue that requires further attention. The activities affected by these forms of tax
have been identified but the exact impact of these taxes on poor people differs
from individual to individual and from community to community.
54
Women generally provide the reproductive and care services to the economy
without payment and this is a form of tax which some scholars call a
‘reproductive tax’. In return, women need some fiscal considerations in terms of
tax exemption from goods primarily used by them. These are goods and services
that have impact on reproductive health and hygiene, those goods that have
impact the time use and those with impact on leisure. Introducing such measures
could increase the productivity of women and so increase the general tax base
for income tax.
The budget of the URA is apportioned to departments in accordance with
departmental business plans and activities. There is no evidence of gender being
taken into account in budget allocations. Engendered URA business plans are
the starting point for engendering the URA budgets.
From 2000 to date there have been a number of tax reforms. Some of them
involve change in tax rates while others are administrative changes and changes
in tax incentive regimes. All these reforms have improved revenue collection as
their central objective. There is no evidence that incentives allocated have any
deliberate attempt to address gender concerns. They also do not necessarily
target poor women and men and vulnerable groups. Where investment subsidies
are provided to the ‘poor’ a lot of discretion is exercised with questionable
impact. A separate inquiry is necessary to ascertain the impact of ‘Entandikwa’
and Youth Entrepreneur Schemes in the Office of the Prime Minister. The schemes
are a form of subsidy and very popular in Uganda. They are credit schemes on
favourable terms to communities administered by the government.
Taxes are administered through tax laws and subsidiary legislation. The documents
are voluminous and difficult to comprehend. In addition, tax law documents are
generally not available to the public. URA should intensify tax education
campaigns and provide summary literature on key aspects of tax laws and their
administration.
The tax incentives offered in Uganda are aimed at a few rich and learned
taxpayers who are capable of internalizing and interpreting the relevant laws on
and take advantage of the tax incentives. There is no evidence that the poor
benefit directly from incentive regimes. In addition, the incentives are
complicated to understand and their administration is deficient. There is a need
to simplify the incentive laws and make their administration transparent and
accountable.
Tax laws are very extensive and have a multitude of aspects, which are open to
various interpretations. In order to do a thorough assessment of their gender
impact it is necessary to deal with one tax policy or aspect at a time and carry
out its gender impact assessment and make recommendations. Dealing with all
aspects at one go has the danger of obscuring the necessary detail required to
make a case for gender tax reform.
55
URA should be encouraged to maintain TINS that that explicitly show sex of the
taxpayer and thus enable reporting of tax revenue contributed by female and
male taxpayers at least for individual tax heads.
There is a need to rally support for gender-sensitive taxation so that policy makers
and politicians appreciate the need for gender-sensitive tax policy impact
assessment and evaluation. There is a need to establish gender issues as a policy
matter in principle so that any gender work on budget and taxation has a policy
backing that is widely appreciated and accepted.
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12 Appendix 9: People interviewed
Ms. Annebrit Aslund – Commissioner General – URA
Mr. Justin Zake – Deputy Commissioner General – URA
Ms. Beatrice Kiraso – Chairperson Budget Committee
Mrs. Jennifer Kagwa – Commissioner Human Resources
Mr. Frank Katusiime – Head Corporate Service Division
Ms. Victoria Nabitaka – Corporate Planner
Mr. Sam Muwanga - Corporate Planner
Ms. Cissy Muwanga – Head Monitoring and Evaluation
Mr. Dan Mwanje – Head Strategic Planning Unit – Customs
Mrs. Susan Ebale – PRO BARS
Mr. Lawrence Kiiza – Commissioner Tax Policy Department
Mr. Ogwapus Moses – Tax Policy Department
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13 Appendix 10: Tax laws
The Income Tax Act, 1997
The Stamp Duty Act, (Cap172) as amended
The Finance Statute 1998 (statute No. 4 of 1998)-section 12 and the seventh
scheduled to the statute (which provide for the imposition and collection of road
users tax) as amended’
The Customs Tariff Act, 1970 (Act No. 17 of 1970) as amended
The East African Customs Management Act (EAC Cap. 27) as amended
The Value Added Tax Statute, 1996 as amended.
The Finance Statute 1989 (Statute No. 3 of 1989)-Section 3 (which imposes a
commission on import licenses) as amended
The Traffic and Road Safety Act, 1998 (Act No.15 of 1998) and Regulations. All
provisions for the collection of license fees and other fees, fines (other than fines
imposed by Courts) and other levies collectable under the Act.
The Excise Tariff Act (Cap. 174) as amended
The East African Excise Management Act (EAC cap. 26) as amended.
The URA Statute 1991
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14 Appendix 12: References
Bartle R and Marylyn M. (2002), The Potential of Gender Budgeting. Has its day
come?
Budlender D, Sharp R and Allen K. (2002), How to do a Gender a Gender Sensitive
Budget Analysis
Budlender D, et al. (2002), Gender Budgets Make Cents
Commonwealth
Secretariat.
(1999),
Gender-Disaggregated
Beneficiary
Assessment of Public Service Delivery and Budget Priorities
Espinosa G, et al. (1999), Sexual Reproductivity in Mexico. Programs, Processes
and their Financial Implications
Hartzenberg T. (1996) “Taxation” in D Budlender (ed) The Women’s Budget. Idasa,
Cape Town
Mbulamuko L. (1999), Gender Issues in Agricultural Development
Mbulamuko L. (2003), A Gender Budget Analysis of the Finance, Planning and
Development Sector in Uganda
Smith T. (2001), Women and Tax in South Africa
Sugiyama N. (2002), Gendered Budget Work in the Americas: Selected Country
Experiences
15 Other working Documents used
Coopers and Lybrand (1991), A Draft Report on Planning for URA
GOU
The Constitution of Uganda 1995
MFPED
The Finance Bills and Acts 2002 to 2002
MFPED
URA
URA
URA
URA
-
The Budget Speeches for years 2000 to 2002
Annual Revenue Reports 2001/02 to 2002/03
Business Plan 2002/03
Corporate Plan 2002/03 – 2006/07
Human Resource Manual 1999
59