Presentation by Henry Saka and Ronald Waiswa at the 7th annual ICTD meeting in Kigali on February 7th 2019.

1. Taxing the Rich & VIPs: An update from
Uganda
Henry Saka & Ronald Waiswa

2. .
African Revenue
Authorities
HNWIs
VIPs &
Govts

3. African RAs Vs HNWIs, VIPs and
Gov’t
• Its widely accepted that there is potential
revenue and the revenue risks associated are
many
• RAs are Very interested in taxing them– but making the
first attempt is still challenging.
• But there is great hope
• Ghana- Had a HNWI target mission, Came for a
bench mark AT URA
• Rwanda- study on going
• Tanzania- benchmarked URA approach
• Kenya
• Zambia

4. The URA: David’s strategy
• They used simple stones
– Soft approaches>>>>education campaigns
– “un official” TCC for politicians
– In the short run, these worked but now seem to
require new measures

5. The Gains…
• .

6. The Gains…
• .
0.50
0.39
0.58
0.47
2015-16 2016-17 2017-18 2018-19
Revenue Collection from VIPs (UGX Bns)

7. Concerns with income tax
• .
5.65 5.79
3.17 3.13
9.37
7.07
8.69
4.46
3.41
7.25
9.12
4.29
2015-16 2016-17 2017-18 2018-19
Tax Head collection (UGX Bns)
INCOME TAX RENTAL INCOME TAX VALUE ADDED TAX

8. Concerns with income tax
• .
65
50
37 34
34
31
33
30
35
40 37 30
2015-16 2016-17 2017-18 2018-19
Number of HNWI paying by tax
head
Income tax Rental VAT
32
23
29
15
30
27
33
23
2015-16 2016-17 2017-18 2018-19
Number of VIPs paying by taxhead
Income tax Rental tax

9. The New URA Approaches?
•
Soft measures:
Educations and
Constant engagements
Tough Measures
Shame list
Engaging cabinet
Audits (10:1)

10. Enforcement & Punitive actions
• Public shame lists
• Enforce compliance through cabinet
• Audits: 10 HNWIs and 1 VIP
• TCC is now a legal requirement for high level politicians during
elections

11. Thank you!!!!!!
11