Proposed Cow Tax: Museveni Government Line Minister Speaks Out

Hours after activist Dr Sarah Bireete reminded Ugandans of a proposal to tax cows, debate on the suggestion is raging on, with Frank Tumwebaze, the Minister of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries, vehemently expressing his disdain at the proposal.

Broached by economist Dr Fred Muhumuza a few years ago, the proposal would see cows taxed at their points of sale. Like Muhumuza, Bireete believes that taxing cattle would widen the tax base and increase tax revenue instead.

But Minister Tumwebaze has argued that the cow tax would negatively affect production.

“So the purpose of that tax would be to discourage having more cows, goats etc and thus discouraging production? How then will you ever increase production if the policy measure (tax) is to prohibit horizontal growth of the enterprises?” he shot back at Bireete.

His view is that the tax should be on the products from cows such as milk but not on cows. Taxing cows, he further argued, would defeat logic.

“Of course farmers do pay tax from the commercial goods they sell. But to suggest to tax a cow, goat and or even gardens is illogical. Tax is a policy measure.  It shouldn’t stifle production.  It should facilitate production and then have tax levied on the value added,” he submitted.

“You don’t tax the production enterprises (cows, goats, coffee trees and acres etc.) and thus stifle quantitative growth, you tax the outcomes (products) from those enterprises. This is the point.”

Read more on Sarah Bireete’s Cow Tax proposal HERE.

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