Members of the Civil Society in a group photoCivil Society Organisations have backed the proposal to hike taxes on alcohol and earnings from sports betting, saying revenue from those items will help fund Uganda’s health sector that is grappling with increased mental health cases instigated by alcohol abuse and gambling addictions.They want Government to annually increase taxes on alcohol.The position was made by Moses Tahibita, Legal officer at Uganda National Health Consumers Organization, a member of Tax Justice Alliance Uganda, while appearing before Parliament’s Finance Committee, to present their views on the 2026 Tax Bills tabled by the Ministry of Finance, geared towards raising revenue to fund the 2026/27 National Budget.“We appreciate this very proposal because it factors in various taxing strategies that indeed translate to mitigating on the side effects of accessing alcohol because it makes it expensive, it supports government generating revenue, it also responds to prices and of course also inflation. We call on government to impose these taxes annually that every other tax cycle we will be seeing the increments because that funding if at all ever earmarked, it will create alternative funding mechanisms for the health sector including financing national health insurance,” Tahibita said.He defended his proposal arguing that alcohol in Uganda is of marketed as flavoured, as light, as for when you look at the extra strong brews, messages he says attracts consumers to purchase with those different characteristics.“So, we support the proposal which is levying a tax, we also support the proposal which is protecting our local market because the products brought into the country indeed seem to out-compete but regardless of where alcohol is coming from, it will indeed harm life. So, we recommend this very proposal, very much aware that there is also article 23 of the constitution which allows depriving of personal liberty for persons so that they can seek care because we have seen a lot of mental health cases and people seeking specialised health care which is too expensive,” Tahibita added.The Tax Justice Alliance Uganda also backed the proposal to increase taxes on sugar, arguing that the excessive consumption of sugar translates to increased non-communicable diseases that of course affects ageing and health and I also said it excessively overburdens our health expenditure.Kennedy Oluma, a member of Uganda Parliamentary Network on Illicit Financing and Flows (UPNIFFT) backed the proposal in the Lotteries and Gaming (Amendment) Bill, 2026 that seeks to increase the payouts from gaming earnings from 20% to 30%, arguing that the proposal goes beyond just what the participants engage in, but rather touches the health and the mental distress of sports betting.Aloysius Kittengo, Program Coordinator Financing for Development at the Southern and Eastern Africa Trade Information and Negotiations Institute (SEATINI)-Uganda asked Parliament to reject Government’s proposal to extend the ongoing tax waiver being enjoyed by Bujagali Electricity Limited up to 2032, until a study is undertaken on what ending the waiver will have on Uganda’s electricity sector and economy.Herbert Kafeero, Deputy Executive Director of SEATINI asked the Committee to ensure that during the consideration of the Tax Bills, that Parliament is alive to the fiscal deficit Uganda is grappling with, especially Uganda’s public debt which has increased from UGX93.38Trn to UGX126Trn in December 2025. “This is largely driven by the increased domestic borrowing which comprise of more than half of the total debt portfolio. But it is also worth noting that domestic debt interest payments stood at over 22% of total revenue in that period thus crowding out other budgetary spending. And in the effort to generate more revenue we appreciate that the government has introduced proposed amendments to existing tax laws,” he said.“We also recognise that there’s a lot of revenue that is projected, additional revenue up to the tune of UGX4.8Trillion that is projected to be raised but as the Tax Justice Alliance, Uganda, the comprehensive review of the various tax bills, amendment bills for financial year 2026-2027 have revealed quite a lot. There are many areas where we commend government and we welcome some of the proposals,” Kafeero added.SEATINI also backed the proposal to amend section 33 of the Income Tax Amendment Bill, 2026 to introduce a withholding tax on commission paid by a telecom service provider, mobile network, and others, saying this will ensure equity since other business owners have been paying taxes on their incomes with Kittengo remarking, “So we can make sure that these ones also in the same brackets also contribute to the taxable net or to the resource envelope of Uganda.”Although the Tax Justice Alliance Uganda backed the proposal requiring individual to pay rental tax at a monthly basis, but the group wants Government to deal with challenges like delay refund and the delays in paying rent by the tenants and the informality of Uganda’s tax and rental system where some tenants pay money to the landlord in cash.Kittengo also asked Government to learn from Kenya that is applying the same policy in terms of collecting taxes on a monthly basis explaining, “And we are saying that where possible, the government can hire agents to collect on behalf of the government because they know. And this one can be linked to the local government where local governments have the town agents who know where these guys are if it is being put into consideration. But it’s going to be in one way or the other impactful to the tax compliant.”Uganda National Health Consumers Organization, a member of Tax Justice Alliance Uganda backed the proposal to increase taxes on cooking oil citing the entity’s advocacy to eliminate hydrogenated cooking oil because of the cardiovascular disease, heart disease that they cause. The post Civil Society Happy With Gov’t For Hiking Taxes On Alcohol, Sugar, Cooking Oil & Earnings From Sports Betting appeared first on Business Focus.