Over the past month, the public and human rights advocates have been huddling with representatives of the government including UCC, URA and Ministry of Finance over removal of OTT Tax. However, all these talks seemed to hit a deadlock after Government made it clear that the Tax on Social Media would stay.
Facebook talking to the Government is the most recent trial, a month after the OTT Tax became effective. A senior Facebook official has said they are engaging government over imposing the UGX 200 over the top tax. He was speaking during a stakeholders meeting to talk through the ramifications of OTT and mobile money taxes in Uganda.
Facebook wants Social Media Tax Removed
Mr Kojo Boakye, the Facebook public policy, access and connectivity manager, said he had been engaging government officials and a cross section of Ugandans to “reach a fair consensus without confrontation”.
“At this moment we are not considering going to court over this matter [OTT tax] because we are not sure it is the best way. I have just been speaking to government officials about this tax. And this is what we have been doing even before this tax was implemented. And we will continue to speak,” he said
Mr. Boakye however, didn’t indicate how the talks with the government officials had progressed.
Officials gainsay Talks with Facebook.
However, Mr Godfrey Mutabazi yesterday said he was not aware of any such talks. Hon Frank Tumwebaze said he had not been updated on who Mr Boakye spoke to over the tax. “I don’t know which official he talked to and what they discussed”. He also added that they didn’t seek any audience with his office.
If history is any guide, you should probably know that the Government doesn’t give much focus to whines from the public when it makes enforces a policies. Case in point was the ban on social media platforms during the 2016 Presidential elections. However, Intense disagreements between those who stand for and those against the OTT Tax continue to rage. The odds however, seem far out of the activists favor. The President already accused social media users of peddling lies and gossip.
