A slowdown in economic development has seen telecom subscribers cut down on expenditure. Telecoms have responded with the Internet and Social bundles to capture every customer. This has had a hit on the revenue collected by the Uganda Revenue Authority which relies heavily on the remittances of telecom companies. “Most of you no longer call using your so-called airtime, most of the calls you are making are through bundles, data so that has affected the way the telecoms are reporting.”

Doris Akol the Commissioner General URA said collected 6.6 trillion in the first half of the 2017/2018 Financial Year, this will have risen to 7 trillion by the December 31st. The Authority anticipated collecting 15.2 trillion shillings in the 2017/2018 Financial Year. “Possibly I think by the end of the month we would have crossed the 7 trillion mark, we should be in a very healthy position to close the Financial Year by end of June in a very healthy revenue collection position.”

The economy also took a hit from the protracted Kenyan elections that characterized the first half of the Financial Year. The Authority hoped to change fortunes in the second half of the year with a “Know Your Client” Campaign. The campaign involved top manager interacting with taxpayers to understand their challenges. “If we can get this kind of engagement directly, front-facing engagement with the clients who come on a routine basis to the counters and we are able to gauge the level of service that we are giving and areas where we need to improve.” The last Know Your Client meet saw the Commissioner General interact with the staff of the Authorities Diamond Trust building branch in the central business district.