Parliament Approves Shs14.9 Billion Tax Waiver for Government Printer, Ankole Western University

Parliament has approved a tax waiver worth Shs14.98 billion for the Uganda Printing and Publishing Corporation (UPPC) and Ankole Western University, following financial difficulties at the government-owned printer and leadership wrangles that disrupted the university’s operations.

The waiver covers Shs13.95 billion owed by UPPC and Shs1.026 billion owed by Ankole Western University.

The approval followed the presentation of reports by Parliament’s Finance Committee by Gerald Nangoli, the Elgon North MP, and James Kakooza, the Older Persons Representative, during a plenary sitting.

The latest approval brings the total tax waivers granted by Parliament over the past two days to Shs16.84 billion, including Shs1.86 billion waived for K-Aroma Limited.

Defending the proposed waiver for UPPC, Finance Minister Henry Musasizi told Parliament that the corporation was experiencing significant financial difficulties, characterised by declining and unstable revenues, deteriorating liquidity and the erosion of its business network.

The Finance Committee recommended approval of the waiver, with Nangoli arguing that keeping the government printer operational was in the public interest.

However, he cautioned that writing off the corporation’s tax obligations without addressing outstanding debts owed to it by Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) could set a dangerous precedent.

Nangoli warned that allowing government agencies to default on payments and subsequently extinguishing the taxes that such unpaid obligations prevented the corporation from remitting could encourage other public enterprises facing similar challenges to seek tax waivers.

The proposal, however, faced opposition from Lubowa Ssebina, the Nyendo-Mukungwe MP, and Brenda Nabukenya, the Luwero District Woman MP, who rejected the proposed tax relief for UPPC.

The legislators pointed out that the corporation had previously benefited from a government tax waiver worth Shs4.77 billion in 2020, comprising Shs3.30 billion in Value Added Tax (VAT) arrears and Shs1.47 billion in Pay As You Earn (PAYE) obligations.

In their minority report, the MPs also questioned what they described as unequal treatment in the recovery of tax arrears.

Ssebina revealed that when the committee sought clarification on why the Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) could not recover the outstanding taxes from UPPC, it was informed that the corporation was a government entity and that disposing of its assets to recover taxes owed to the government was not considered prudent.

With opposition to the waiver emerging from both government and opposition legislators, Musasizi made a final appeal to Parliament, urging MPs to support the rescue of the government-owned corporation in the national interest.

He pledged that the government would address the challenge of delayed payments for services provided by UPPC to MDAs and ensure that more government printing work is reserved for the corporation instead of being outsourced to private companies.