Govt writes off shs 500b tax arrears for 34 companies
By Moses Kyeyune.
The government has this evening secured Parliament approval to write off all unpaid taxes by Government as at June 30, 2019.
The move that will benefit 34 companies comes out of government’s failure to honor its commitments to investors.
The proposal to write off the tax debt was presented in the Tax Procedures Code (amendment) Bill 2019 that the House adopted following stiff debate with as section of legislators raising suspicion of possible collusion.
David Bahati, the minister of State for Planning who led the defence, justified the decision on the lack of funds to pay off the taxes and the fact that Parliament has on several occasions blocked the taxes from being budgeted for.
The Minister further argued that with Parliament pressing the government to take the unpaid taxes off the record of Parliament, there is no option rather than placing a humble bargain.
Some of the beneficiaries include Arab Contractors, which was constructing Mulago Women Hospital Project (shs 28.3b as counterpart funding) and ROKO Construction Limited on the Mulago Renovation Project (Shs 10.8b also for counterpart funding) among others.
