Local council authorities from Eastern Region have asked parliament to reinstate graduated tax.
The leaders argued that the conditional grants from central government cannot adequately address priority areas because they are always sent with strings attached.
Ismail Orot, the Kumi District LC 5 chairperson says since government scrapped the graduated tax in 2005, most local governments are incapacitated to adequately deliver services due to poor financial facilitation by central government.
Orot told the Eastern Region Parliamentary Outreach Forum at the weekend at Mbale Resort Hotel that most districts cannot allocate resources to key areas because of the minimal revenue base. He said they are not allowed to divert conditional grants to fund emergencies.
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Eunice Musime, the program director of Uganda National NGO Forum told the same parliamentary sitting that government should consider reducing the cost of public administration to save funds to support local governments.
She was particularly irked by the creation of up to 112 districts by government which she argued was not necessary saying it has impacted negatively against the service delivery.
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Last week, government announced the creation of two more districts, Kagadi and Buyaga, raising the number of districts to 114.
Wilberforce Tukei, the LC 5 chairperson Bukedea district says local governments were fairly able to deliver services because graduated tax was flexible but that now they have been incapacitated because the central government grants have strings attached.
Rebecca Kadaga, the speaker of parliament supported the idea of reinstating graduated tax.
She said she has received similar complaints even from local leaders in her district. She says they want parliament to draft a law to ensure that every citizen lives a responsible life and pays allegiance to the state.
Kadaga said she will push the idea to parliament so as they can discuss how to review the graduated tax compensation to widen the local revenue base for local governments.
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Government scrapped off the graduated tax in 2005 and introduced several other smaller local taxes to cover the gap, which local leaders say are still insufficient.
