Social Media/ Mobile Money Taxes Vs Gandhi's Salt Tax!
For the first time, I've been much more hurt by an Andrew Mwenda post than before. Its really sad to see someone U used to highly respect lose their brains up to this extent. Very sad! The problem in Uganda isn't which country pays more taxes than Uganda, how much tax is collected, or needs to be introduced. The problem is that the government is spending much more money than they are willing to raise in taxation. So, their solution is MORE TAXES before helping to raise people's incomes, and this is what is pissing people off. New taxes(of small amount deductions) tend to be mainly felt by a guy who goes to work everyday at the market, clocks in and clocks off for his work day,remaining on the same income, and then you ask him to pay shs.200 everytime he logs on whatsapp to call his woman.
What Ugandans are doing isnt different from what Mohandas Gandhi did in 1930 in India against the British introduction of the salt tax. Gandhi broke the salt laws and others followed. Let me hope that all opposition leaders and non-self serving citizens, have joined this non-violent resistance against social media and mobile money tax against the Uganda govt. Even there the objection was to the taxation of an essential product where the tax itself is objectionable. Profit on collection, refining, and distribution continues to this day and Gandhi never objected to that during his lifetime.
The fact that few people are now using the internet since the social media tax was introduced, internet providing companies in Uganda will start making noise to the govt to urgently do something about it, because they're losing money. No one is in business to break even or to lose money. They are in business to make money.
*Abbey Kibirige Semuwemba* Stalk my blog at: http://semuwemba.wordpress.com
"Men in authority will always think that criticism of their policies is dangerous. They will always equate their policies with patriotism, and find criticism subversive." - Henry Steele Commager 1902-98