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KAMPALA. — Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has signed into law an excise duty amendment bill that levies a mobile money tax and daily social media fee, a presidential spokesperson said here Wednesday.
The bill taxes a daily fee of 200 shillings (0.05 U.S. dollars) for social media use and 0.5-percent excise duty on mobile money transactions to raise revenue for government projects, Don Wanyama, senior presidential spokesperson, told Xinhua by telephone.
After the presidential assent, the act is supposed to be made public before it becomes law in the east African country.
Activists demanded the new taxes, which came into force on July 1, be abolished, arguing that they are unfair, costly, prohibitive and a limitation to people’s individual freedoms.
The Ugandan government, however, announced that it will not scrap the two taxes, but reduce the tax on mobile money withdrawals to 0.5 percent from 1 percent.
In October, lawmakers voted to maintain the excise duty amendment bill despite strong public protests. – Xinhua
Online Reporter