Uganda imposes tax on Bibles, Koran
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read more18 uganda has imposed taxes on religious groups for sale of bibles koran prayer and hymn books1 the clerics are insisting that religious materials should be tax-exempt since they use them for spiritual nourishment of ugandans1 however the ura commissioner general ms doris akol disagreed saying the practice of not taxing the entities and materials was in the first place an anomaly1 we understand that value-added tax vat has in the past not been paid on the said bibles prayer books and hymn books. this was an anomaly she wrote in an april 19 letter1 ms akol was responding to a petition a month earlier by the church of uganda archbishop stanley ntagali1 the prelate had asked the tax man to release a consignment of 9120 prayer and hymn books imported from nairobi kenya without the church having to pay vat1 in his march 18 letter archbishop ntagali noted that items had been shipped in by centenary publishing house limited church of ugandas cou publishing arm which in his view should be tax-exempt1 it is from this point of view that we write to you appealing that the vat be waived since they books are used to educate the masses and christians by spreading the word of god as our nations motto affirms for god and my country he stated1 ms akol said she had no power to waive a tax not excluded under the law and as such ura released the consignment only after cou paid ush8.9 million 23951 the countrys revenue authority ura imposed the taxes prompting clerics across faith groups expressing consternation and disbelief1 if enforced it also means the government could raise substantial revenues from taxes on religious materials1 the religious institutions were unable to immediately provide the number of bibles korans and other worship materials sold in a year1 mr joshua kitakule the secretary general of the inter-religious council of uganda an umbrella body of different faiths on monday said whereas religions should not entirely be tax-exempt imposing 18 per cent vat on bibles korans and prayer books would be erroneous1 these items are not meant for profit so it is erroneous to tax them. prayer books are supposed to strengthen the spiritual nourishment of individuals he said1 the tax bodys break from tradition followed months of engagement with religious leaders who remained opposed to the proposal1 for instance mr ramathan mugalu the secretary general of the uganda muslim supreme council said president museveni had said all imported prayer materials that are not for sale should not be taxed1 this government has gone too far in its collection of taxes. how can you tax the word of god it should instead come in to assist in publishing these materials mr mugalu said1 canon joram kahenano a cou commissioner said ura should have referred its proposal for consideration by parliament before proceeding to implement it1 in a country where nine out of every 10 citizens are either christians or muslims the proposed tax that a church official said would result in increase of for instance a hymn books cost by ush3000 0.801