According to Michael Mulindwa Nakumusana, the Nyendo-Mukungwe Division Chairperson, the majority of property owners are not meeting their property tax obligations, which has contributed to a significant deficit in local revenue collections in the city.
Masaka City Council is facing difficulties in meeting its
property tax collection targets as several landlords are absent from the area.
The city
council treasury is registering a significant shortfall in local revenue
collections, mainly due to a high default rate on property rates.
Last year,
Masaka City Council compiled an assessment and tax evaluation roll, which
indicated that 20,061 buildings in the area are eligible for paying property
tax. The tax is charged on immovable properties that are commercially managed,
such as schools, hotels, rented houses, rented shops, and factories.
The city had
projected to collect at least 2.5 billion shillings in each financial year if
property owners complied by contributing a 5% tax to the city treasury.
According to
Michael Mulindwa Nakumusana, the Nyendo-Mukungwe Division Chairperson, the
majority of property owners are not meeting their property tax obligations,
which has contributed to a significant deficit in local revenue collections in
the city.
He notes
that the city's tax mobilization teams are struggling to locate many of the property
owners and serve them tax evaluation notices, thereby failing to meet their tax
obligations.
The city only raised 965 billion shillings out of a projection of
2.1 billion shillings in property tax in the last financial year, according to
the budget performance report.
Mulindwa
explains that most of the defaulting properties are owned by absentee
landlords, and the current occupants are hesitant to help the tax collection
teams locate the real proprietors.
//Cue in: “Twakizuula ne luli ….
Cue out:…..kudda waggulu.”//
To address
the issue, Mulindwa states that the City Council has generated a list of
properties that have consistently defaulted on their tax obligations for a long
time. Besides publishing the list of defaulters, he says the city is also
considering using the courts of law to help recover the taxes.
//Cue in: “Council kati yafulumiza…
Cue out:……lwebamubanjiza lw’asasula.”//
Florence
Namayanja, the Masaka City Mayor, notes that as the political leadership, they
have taken it upon themselves to mobilize tax compliance in their respective
electoral areas to support the city to generate the required revenue to run its
operations.
However,
Edward Lutaaya, the Chairperson of Masaka City Property Owners Association,
partly blames the apparent default rate on the ruthlessness of some members of
the tax mobilizing team who are tough on landlords. As a result, they chose not
to pay the taxes.
He has
challenged the City Council authorities to hold a mutual engagement with the
association of property owners to agree on affordable property rates and how to
schedule the payments, rather than choosing to use the court process, which
will incur high costs.
