The Minister of Finance, Ms Kiwanuka's 2013/14 budget proposal included a ding on telephone international calls terminating in the Republic of Uganda. It was dubbed as taxing "foreigners." I would bet that ninety percent of those calls are from Ugandans living abroad. So now, not only is the diaspora increasing the economic activities in the country by its remittances, it is going to be taxed to fund a corrupt regime. And check this out; there is a proposal to float some diaspora bond to help finance the said government. All the while a legislation for dual citizenship lies idle on Mr. Museveni's desk and there is no facilitation for diaspora voter participation.
Here is Telcom 101 on voice calls. When you call a wireless or a land line in Uganda, that call is directed to the receiver via a local carrier which charges a fee which is passed on to you by the carrier of origination. The Museveni government saw easy money here. It will add a tax to the termination fee and the local carrier will just write a check to Caesar. What a racket! Now, you will be paying more for your calls, and you thought digitization was going to lower your rates.
In the tax activists' world, taxation without representation is a farce. The rationale being that if you can't vote, you have no voice in influencing what goes on. Mr. Museveni can impose his greedy hands into your pocket and take away what you have so that he can ride his jets, throw sacks of money in bribery left and right, and, if you dare come to Kampala and demonstrate, you will be whipped by his policemen.
