UGANDA, Mbarara | Real Muloodi News | RippleNami Uganda will on the 10th of August 2022 hand over a complete report on the views of property owners in Mbarara City, to City Mayor, Robert Mugabe Kakyebezi, in a ceremony to be held at the Acacia Hotel Mbarara starting at 10am.
This event will bring together the City Executive Committee to dissect the feedback from Mbarara property owners about how revenues generated from property rates should be spent in the local community, as well as map out a plan to implement the findings under the auspices of the office of the Town Clerk for Mbarara City.
The report follows a series civic engagements to gather the views of property owners that were undertaken in Mbarara City throughout March to June 2022, by RippleNami Uganda in a joint venture with Local Government, with support from USAID, as part of the Domestic Revenue Mobilization for Development (DRM4D).
The activities, under the campaign slogan “Services and Fair Tax for Property Owners”, aim to improve the state of services in Mbarara City, by educating and advocating for greater tax compliance in regard to property rates, while calling for accountability from City leadership that the revenues generated will contribute to the provision of valued public goods and services.
Market studies have shown that a significant number of Ugandans have low confidence levels in the tax system, which negatively impacts their willingness to comply with tax obligations.
For example, a recent study by International Growth Centre (IGC) that focused on Kampala property owners, found that service delivery, if poorly implemented or simply not salient, can lower tax morale because taxpayers believe there is no reciprocity for paying their rates. As a result of perceptions of poor service delivery and other issues, less than one in ten billed Kampala property owners paid their taxes on time in the financial year 2019/2020.
The civic engagements conducted in the greater Mbarara area centered around the local real estate sector, as property rates are a priority area for revenue collection. Key to this exercise were surveys carried out with property owners and residents, as well as stakeholder consultations at LC1 (village) level Council 1 with all classes of citizens represented, to include male and female youth and elderly representatives.
The success of this project is heavily dependent on the commitment of Local Government and Political leaders, particularly the City Executive Committee of Mbarara City.
About RippleNami Uganda
RippleNami Uganda is a technology company working to deliver innovative solutions to people across Africa to solve critical problems, empower nations, and provide people with real-time information to connect and create positive change.
In addition to Mbarara City, RippleNami Uganda is also conducting the “Services & Fair Tax for Property Owners” initiative in the cities of Hoima, Fort Portal and Gulu.
RippleNami Uganda is extending the campaign reach digitally to Uganda’s other new cities of Jinja, Mbale, Masaka, Lira, Soroti and Arua through Real Muloodi News Network.
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