By Mike Sebalu
Poultry feeds dealers and farmers in Uganda have implored the government to take an immediate stand on the new taxes imposed on imported raw materials for animal and poultry feeds for them to determine the future of their businesses.
This financial year, Uganda Revenue Authority started imposing 10% of the import duty and 18% of value added tax on imported poultry and animal feed raw materials contrally to earlier announcements by the government not to levy new taxes in this financial year.
The introduction of these new taxes has caused an uproar among the dealers and farmers with Uganda Revenue Authority, causing delays in clearance of the containers until they pay the said taxes.
Speaking to KFM, both the dealers (Henry Biyizinka and George William Kayongo) and farmers (Andrew Rubayihayo and Aga Sekalaala Junior) believe the longer the government will take to announce its position, the more the loss they will incur due to delays at borders and in warehouses.
However, Uganda Revenue Authority Assistant Commissioner in charge of public and corporate affairs, Ibrahim Bbosa told the Daily Monitor there has been a mix on priorities as dealers started importing concentrates that were not exempted from VAT as stated in the amended VAT act of 2017 where premixes were exempted from tax.
