At the beginning of April, Uganda’s president, Yoweri Museveni stated that he would tax social media usage in the country, apparently, since they are used for “lugambo” (gossip). In what seems like a terribly scripted sitcom, the proposal was taken to parliament and last evening, the Excise Duty (Amendment) Bill, 2018 was passed bringing into effect, social media usage taxation as well as mobile money taxation.
Uganda does not pride itself as a country with high internet penetration, with the number standing at 31% penetration at the end of 2017. Such a move would be seen as a bigger hurdle to grow this number, but the government does not see it this way. They argue that the new taxes will generate more revenue and broaden the tax base – apparently, the government does not have “a money minting machine.”
Optional Social Media Tax
Ugandans will from July 1st, be required to pay UGX.200, daily, to access social media services such as WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat. This move had been highly criticized as ‘diversionary, deceptive, injurious to individual freedoms and burdensome’ by human rights defenders and opposition leaders.
Some members of parliament also said that the social media tax would stifle the flow of information but this did not seem to move the majority. Hon. Bahati David, Uganda Minister of Finance for Planning, clarified that “the tax is not on data but on the service… If you don’t access social media for a day, you don’t pay.” The same sentiments were echoed by Member of Parliament and Minister for Health, Hon James Kakooza who said, “if you want you pay, if you do not want, you don’t use it.” Making it clear that those who are against the social media tax, will not have access to these services.
1% Mobile Money Tax
The other whip to the butt was delivered when the parliament approved 1% taxation on the value of all mobile money transactions, i.e., withdrawals, payments and transfers. This comes just after the Uganda Communications Commission placed a ban on all airtime scratch cards in Uganda as from June 30, 2018, asking consumers to purchase airtime via electronic means which highly rely on mobile money.
Despite the numerous calls from the opposition that taxing mobile money transactions would have a negative effect on the poor, the government insisted that taxes have to be paid if government services have to be delivered. With a parting shot from Hon. Bahati David, “The poor want free healthcare, free education, free roads, etc. Their appetite for good services should be matched with the capacity to pay taxes.”
[…] neighbors in Uganda will start being taxed while for their use of social media. The law comes into effect as of July 1st, but it’s not clear how the government will monitor […]
[…] neighbours in Uganda will start being taxed while for their use of social media. The law comes into effect as of July 1st, but it’s not clear how the government will monitor […]
[…] neighbours in Uganda will start being taxed while for their use of social media. The law comes into effect as of July 1st, but it’s not clear how the government will monitor its […]
[…] started paying the social media tax effective from 1st July this year and this was not met with open arms by the public. Ugandans are […]
[…] in use of social media by their citizens and are catching up with laws to regulate its use. Uganda introduced a social media tax which was not well received and also blocked VPNs to discourage tax dodgers. Tanzania introduced a […]
[…] in use of social media by their citizens and are catching up with laws to regulate its use. Uganda introduced a social media tax which was not well received and also blocked VPNs to discourage tax dodgers. Tanzania introduced a […]
[…] African countries, especially in our region, have some sort of law that governs social media use. Uganda charges people a social media tax and apparently want to charge bloggers a yearly fee and Tanzania already is charging bloggers for […]
[…] African countries, especially in our region, have some sort of law that governs social media use. Uganda charges people a social media tax and apparently want to charge bloggers a yearly fee and Tanzania already is charging bloggers for […]
[…] media has gained momentum this year. Uganda passed a law in July that gave the government power to charge its citizens a fee of around $20 a year to use social media apps. Tanzania doesn’t have that but they charge online business owners fees […]
[…] media has gained momentum this year. Uganda passed a law in July that gave the government power to charge its citizens a fee of around $20 a year to use social media apps. Tanzania doesn’t have that but they charge online business owners fees […]
[…] pay the most for data in East Africa, comparatively of course and adding the fact that they need to pay a social media tax on top doesn’t help their case. In Kenya’s case, the taxes were incorporated into the pricing […]
[…] pay the most for data in East Africa, comparatively of course and adding the fact that they need to pay a social media tax on top doesn’t help their case. In Kenya’s case, the taxes were incorporated into the pricing […]
[…] year ago, Uganda introduced another unpopular move: taxing citizens who use social media services. The development was meant to control social media ‘gossip’, which the President of Uganda […]
[…] country. We have seen other weird laws creep up in other countries regarding Internet use like in Uganda with their over the top social media tax and Tanzania with their […]
[…] governments in the continent and around the world regulate what is being shared on social media. Uganda for example added a tax on social media apps because apparently people use it to gossip. In some other cases, Ethiopia shuts down the Internet […]