Tax Reforms and Domestic Revenue Mobilization in Uganda
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Munich Personal RePEc Archive Tax Reforms and Domestic Revenue Mobilization in Uganda Ayoki, Milton and Obwona, Marios and Ogwapus, Moses Institute of Policy Research and Analysis, Economic Policy Research Centre, Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development January 2005 Online at https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/80328/ MPRA Paper No. 80328, posted 23 Jul 2017 13:30 UTC Tax Reforms and Domestic Revenue Mobilization in Uganda Second Draft November 21, 2004 Revised January 05, 2005 Revised January 31, 2005 Global Development Network (GDN) Washington, D.C. Milton Ayoki Marios Obwona Moses Ogwapus Institute of Policy Research and Analysis P.O. Box 7138 Kampala - Uganda Tel: 256-41-232140 E-mail: [email protected] January 31, 2005 Foreword This report presents the major areas of research and key findings of the international research project on ‘Macroeconomic Policy Challenges of Low Income Countries’. The project aims to contribute to a better understanding of the macroeconomic problems of low income countries, and facilitate an exchange of views with academics and researchers based in developed economies, including those in the international financial community. In this report, the authors explore the options available for policy makers on revenue mobilization in Uganda. They tackle fundamental policy questions about what measures could result into fast revenue growth for Uganda focusing on the tax reforms and macroeconomic issues. The elasticity and buoyancy indexes computed for the pre and post-reform periods as well as for the combined period provide a framework through which the impact of the reforms on each index between the two periods can be discerned. The approach provides the basis for identifying the sources of fast revenue growth and/or lagging revenue growth in the tax system, and the components of revenue growth which are within or outside the control of authorities. This study offers practical lessons for Uganda and other African countries attempting to achieve their revenue targets. We thank the Uganda team for their recommendable work and the external reviewer, Professor Peter Warr of the Australian National University for his technical support. The project could not have been undertaken without the generous financial support of the Governments of United Kingdom and the Netherlands, the International Monetary Fund, and the World Bank. Gary McMahon and Robert Dodd at the GDN Secretariat in Washington, D.C. provided excellent administrative and professional back-up. However, the views expressed in this report are entirely those of the authors and do not necessary represent GDN’s own policies or views or of its funding partners. Global Development Network Table of Contents List of Tables and Figures ....................................................................................................................iv Executive Summary.............................................................................................................................iv 1. Introduction ................................................................................................................................. 1 2. Fiscal Operations and Tax Reforms ................................................................................................. 3 2.1 Aggregate level of government spending and the budget deficit ........................................................ 3 2.2 Uganda’s tax effort........................................................................................................................ 4 2.3 Major tax reforms in Uganda .......................................................................................................... 9 2.4 Structure of domestic taxes.......................................................................................................... 15 2.5 Revenue corruption ..................................................................................................................... 21 3. Methodology............................................................................................................................... 26 3.1 Elasticity index and tax buoyancy.................................................................................................. 26 3.2 Estimation procedure................................................................................................................... 28 3.3 Impact of macroeconomic variables on tax revenue........................................................................ 29 3.4 Proxy tax bases and data sources ................................................................................................. 31 4. Reforms and Responses of the Tax Revenues to Income ................................................................ 32 4.1 Elasticity estimates for the pre and post-reform period, combined ................................................... 32 4.2 Elasticity estimates for the pre-reform period................................................................................. 34 4.3 Elasticity estimates for post-reform period ..................................................................................... 35 4.4 Comparison between pre and post-reform period ........................................................................... 37 5. Tax Responses to Changing Economic Trends................................................................................. 37 5.1 Impact of external aid and fiscal deficit ......................................................................................... 38 5.2 Impact of foreign exchange rate................................................................................................... 39 5.3 Impact of inflation ....................................................................................................................... 40 5.4 Impact of literacy rate ................................................................................................................. 41 6. Conclusions ................................................................................................................................. 41 References ....................................................................................................................................... 44 Appendixes ...................................................................................................................................... 47 Notes............................................................................................................................................... 59 III List of Tables and Figures Table: 1. Summary of elasticity: direct and indirect taxes, and overall tax system vi 2. Summary of elasticity: import and excise duties, and VAT/sales tax vii 3. Uganda: Government revenues and expenditures, 1997/98-2003/04 3 4. Economic Indicators for Selected Countries in Sub-Saharan Africa 8 5. Value Added Tax in Selected SSA Countries, 2003/04 17 6. Uganda: Elasticity of main taxes, 1988/89-2003/04 32 7. Uganda: Elasticity of main taxes, 1988/89-1995/96 34 8. Uganda: Elasticity of main taxes, 1996/97-2003/04 35 9. Uganda: OLS Results for Income Tax and Import duty Revenues 37 Figure: 1. Tax Revenue as % of GDP, 1997-2004 5 2. Taxes on International Trade as % of Total Tax Revenue 6 3. Domestic Taxes on Goods and Services as % of Total Tax Revenue 6 IV Executive Summary This paper focuses on the requirement to increase government revenue in Uganda and the ways various taxes have responded to changing economic environment. Specifically, the paper looks at the tax reforms implemented by the government and how revenue yields of individual taxes and the overall tax system have responded to changes in GDP (or proxy bases). We computed elasticity and buoyancy indexes for the pre - and post-reform periods as well as the combined period based on primary data from four main sources: the Uganda Revenue Authority (URA); Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS); Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development; and Bank of Uganda. Fiscal operations and tax reforms Analysis shows that the growth in domestic revenue in Uganda has hardly kept pace with the growth of the economy especially the growing expenditure demands. In 2003/04, while the share of revenue to GDP was 12.6 percent, the share of total government expenditure to GDP was 24.1 percent. The fiscal deficit nearly doubled to 11.5 percent in 2003/04 from 6.5 percent in 1997/98. The absolute expansion in the size of government budget explains the increase in the budget deficit, which is partly financed by external borrowing. Major tax reforms implemented since 1990s aimed at addressing these fiscal challenges facing the country. Reforms were directed at improving administrative efficiency and to ensure better taxpayer compliance. It aimed at rationalizing the tax structure and rates, widening the tax base, reducing exemptions and simplifying tax procedures. High and differentiated taxes and tariff rates, burdensome bureaucratic requirements, discretionary exemptions and tax incentives were considered to be a source of inefficiency in the tax system. In order to improve revenue administration, the Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) was set up in 1991 as a semi-autonomous agency to collect taxes. The value-added-tax (VAT) was introduced in 1996 to replace Sales Tax and Commercial Transaction Levy (CTL). A new Income Tax Act was enacted in 1997. The Act broadened the definition of taxable IV income; and eliminated (most)