By Akinyi Winiefred
As Uganda Revenue Authority gears towards collecting over UGX 29.2 trillion this financial year, tax education has been earmarked as one of the strategies to achieve voluntary taxpayer compliance.
Over the weekend, URA joined other exhibitors in participating in the Theluji festival that happened in Kasese district.
Festivalgoers benefited from the tax advisory, TIN registration, free tax literature, and other services that were brought closer at the URA booth.
Rev. Eng. Patad Gabriel, Chairman of the Kasese Tourism Investors Forum, urged the residents of Kasese to embrace tourism as a way to participate more actively in the global economy. According to him, this will result in citizens taking a more active part in hastening the social-economic change.
“If we put our hands together to promote tourism in Kasese, poverty can be eradicated in the region because the value chain of tourism can feed everybody,” he said.
Rev. Patad referred to the economics of demand and supply, pointing out that as more people travel to Kasese, the demand for goods like meals and hotel services will rise. He continued, “This will result in social-economic empowerment through people purchasing goods.”
According to statistics from the Uganda Investment Authority, tourism is one of Uganda’s main sources of income, generating 7.7% of the nation’s GDP and bringing in an estimated 1.5 million visitors annually.
Additionally, according to the Uganda Tourism Board, the country’s tourism industry is gradually improving with recent figures indicating 814508 travelers brought in $736 million for Uganda in 2022.
As the mandated national revenue mobiliser, URA aims to create a tax-savvy populace that can fully profit from the opportunities in this sector and contribute their fair share to the revenue basket.
Meanwhile, the festival attracted key stakeholders, including the National Water and Sewerage Corporation, the Uganda Investment Authority, and the Uganda Tourism Board, among others.
The event also featured a marathon, where URA was ably represented by Felix Mujuni and Enock Nasasira from the Kasese DT office.
Kwemoi Vitalist, a 26-year-old from Kapchorwa, won the 42-kilometer race.
