MPs regret tax on diapers
Members of Parliament have expressed regret over their decision to impose the tax which they initially claimed were being used to promote homosexuality in Uganda.
The MPs admitted that the tax has instead made diapers expensive for the elderly and people with disabilities who rely on them.
Flavia Kabahenda Kyegegwa District Woman Representative said, “On the World Disability Day in Mbarara, I realized that the people with hydrocephalous and spina bifida are living on pampers and these pampers have become expensive from the time we slapped a tax on pampers.”
“ I think we made a mistake as Parliament to impose taxes on diapers because we thought we would help parents to reduce use of diapers in order not to spoil their children, but we have discovered that there are elderly people who need to use diapers and there are also people with disability that rely on diapers in order to protect their dignity in society.”
She then urged her fellow MPs to reconsider the tax on diapers.
However Rose Obiga the Terego District Woman representative asked the MPS to stop wasting time dwelling on the diaper tax .
She noted that the tax was imposed because diapers are a luxury and this was made so that their use is reduced because as she believes, the diapers were to be blamed for affecting the fertility of men in Uganda(yet to be scientifically proven).
She maintained that village men “perform” very well, unlike their counterparts who are brought up in good homes because they have sperm count challenges brought about by constant use of diapers.
“Our men from Terego perform very well, because they didn’t use diapers. Not like the ones who are brought up in good homes, they have challenges with sperm count.”
In May 2023 when parliament approved a tax a diapers and rejected a proposal to exempt payment of taxes on adult diapers, opposition woman MPs led by Mityana Woman MP Joyce Bagala rose up in arms called for the reversal of the Value Added Tax imposed on the diapers under the Value Added Tax Amendment Bill, 2023
They argued that imposing taxes on diapers would adversely affect mothers’ productive time, reducing household incomes and ultimately national revenues.
The bill also proposed an exemption on payment of tax on adult diapers, however several MPs put up a spirited fight against the proposal.
Efforts by the Deputy Chairperson of the committee on finance, planning and economic development Jane Pacutho and the Minister of state for finance Hon Amos Lugoloobi to convince MPs to exempt payment of Value Added Tax on adults basing on medical reasons were resisted.
