Uganda MPs should pay taxes on their allowances

#MPAllowances and #GrandInequities: 

I waited patiently to see how the Parliamentary Commission would defend the Amendment of Income Tax (Amendment) Bill 2016 that allows the MPs to protect their allowances from taxation. I read every defence and commentaries on this matter that I could come across on social media and mainstream media. In particular, postings by Director of Communications of Parliament, Mr. Chris Obore left me fence-sitting on the matter and I tried to wrap my head around this matter in vain because my conscience was not at ease.

My question was, who really is telling the truth? Was Chris Obore telling the public the truth, or the bug of obscurantism has caught up with a man who built a public image and fortified it as a Journalist who told it as it is?

Treasure Secretary Keith Muhakanizi has helped put this paradox in perspective in an article that appeared in the DM of April 25, 2016. Read: treasury boss faults MPs for over tax exemptions.

The key argument of Parliament in justifying its decision to exempt itself from paying taxes on their allowances was that allowances are not taxable, and that they already pay taxes on their basic salary.

The critical question that has lingered in my mind is, are other civil servants not really paying taxes on their allowances? This is the part where Chris Obore did not explore with the public. This is the icing on the cake.

Let us examine some basic facts:

MPs' basic salary at Shs 2.6millions per month is less than one eighth of the combine monthly allowances of Shs 10.2 millions, excluding that which each MP will accumulate based on the # of Sittings and # of Committee Sittings each may attend in a month (gross Shs 25millions);

Lets break it down and you do your maths!

a) Subsistence allowance (Shs4.5m),

b) Constituency facilitation (Shs3.2m),

c) Town running allowance (Shs1m),

d) Gratuity (Shs1m),

e) Medical allowance (Shs0.5m),

f) Plenary sitting allowance (Shs150,000 per sitting) and

c) A committee sitting allowance of Shs50,000 per sitting.

The truth, which Mr. Obore must explain to the public is, why do MPs get salaries if they are paid allowances for each sitting and each attendance of plenary session? What is their hefty Salary for?

Other than MPs, are there any other category of Public servants in Uganda whose allowances are as hefty (superseding salary nearly 8 times) and these allowances are not taxed? OK, lets say, whose meagre allowances are tax free?

Would it be proper for a teacher to be paid allowance for attending classroom, marking papers/assignments, invigilating end of term exams, and attending school, on top of their basic salaries?

Would it not be a matter of equity to pay Doctors and Nurses for attending to the hospital, attending to the patients, attending to surgery, attending to whatever they should be attending to, on top of their basic salaries?

I pity those who just accept such grand pay inequity for the sake of it. There is more to the MPs evading taxation on heir allowances than we already know. The MPS allowances alone are more than 8 times their salary if an MP were to attend maximum # of sittings, and plenary sittings through the year. Would we not benefit more by offering a tax waiver on their salary and levy taxes on their allowances instead?

I am just being curious as a citizen of Uganda and an appendage of my peasantry roots in Pajule or Dure! I need answers, and so do my peasantry comrades in the countryside.

END.