SEATINI Uganda and Partners Enhance Capacity of Tax Justice Campaigners

As part of the ‘‘Fiscal Justice for Women and Girls Africa’’ project which is funded by the European Union (EU), SEATINI Uganda in partnership with Oxfam in Uganda, and FEMNET organized a capacity building training (retooling) meeting for Tax Justice Campaigners from Arua, Gulu, and Soroti cities.

The two-day (22nd and 23rd February 2022) training was aimed at enhancing the capacity of Tax Justice Campaigners in taxation particularly focusing on the new dynamics within the operating environment. Furthermore, the training focused on the link between revenue mobilization and accountability to gender and the key barriers to effective participation of women and girls. The retooling workshop brought together 25 participants.
The refresher workshop for the Tax Justice Campaigners focused on the following topics; Understanding the concept of Tax Justice, The National Tax system in Uganda, Taxation at the Local Government level, Understanding the link between Gender and Taxation: Using Tax as a Tool to Achieve Women’s Rights and Effective Citizen’s Engagement at the Local Government levels.

Some of the key issues raised by the campaigners representing business owners/traders but also non-state actors included; multiple tax payments e.g. market dues, garbage collection fees, toilet fees, stall fees/levies, the poor linkage between tax and the services, lack of women and girl lens in Uganda’s tax policies, the unfair tax collection, especially by the tenderers, difficulty in complying with the tax obligation, for instance, attaining and maintain the Tax Identification Number (TIN) among others.

Following the refresher training, the Tax Justice Campaigners developed own work plans which will inform their Tax Justice civic awareness campaigns within their constituencies.