URA to apply science in revenue mobilisation

Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) has invested in a science-based revenue collection system where all products will be tested in their laboratories before taxing them, a move the tax body believes will improve revenue mobilisation.

Assistant commissioner tax investigation at the authority, Agnes Nabwire told The Nile Post that the traditional taxation measures will not be used for sectors like manufacturing and imports since people continue to under-declare.

"Where the human eye and other sensory evaluation cannot be used to identify products accurately, the laboratory comes in handy. Unlabelled, mislabelled and items suspected to be misclassified, undervalued, prohibited or restricted are normally forwarded to the laboratory for testing," she said during a tour of the URA laboratory.

She explained that the decisions are based on facts (objectivity) rather than subjectivity, adding that not everything can be appreciated by humans hence the idea of applying science to be able to ascertain the facts.

"We are using science to protect the society from products which are supposed not to go there. This move will help us to enforce compliance. Scientifically we are able to ascertain that what (traders) are declaring to URA is not correct, more so in sectors like manufacturing, “she said.

When asked whether the duty of testing isn’t that of Uganda National Bureau of Standards (UNBS) Nabwire said UNBS looks at quality but for the case of URA, it looks at the value of the products.

She said for instance that textile materials containing polyester attract lower customs value compared to textile materials containing cotton, spandex, viscose.

Stephen Kiggundu, the acting manager science investigation at URA said the tax body will be using basic science to discover and solve fundamental and day to day problems.