Stop taxing communication.

Uganda’s Taxation of basic online

communications hurts humanity.

There was a time; I relied on farming WhatsApp groups to fill the gap of agriculture
extension services. Imagine the farmer who can only afford data once a month to
utilise online farming platforms like YouTube. Taxing Internet and Airtime limits
hundreds from accessing from using important information in a democracy.

Universal equitable access to information is a key enabler for achieving sustainable

development goals. Uganda’s continued taxation of the internet and airtime is an
obstacle to sustainable development. Many people will be left behind.
Communication must be affordable for all.

Wrong timing. After the COVID-19 outbreak, the internet has become a significant
enabler for work, health care, education, Agriculture, security, development,
business, psychosocial care, and faith-based services. Introducing a 12% tax levy to
replace OTT was unreasonable. Most workers are already subjected to pay cuts
following the Covid-19 pandemic outbreak. Taxing internet data negatively
influences usability, service delivery and affordability. The government is currently
moving services online like e-procurement despite taxing the internet. The
government of Uganda also has a National Fourth Industrial Revolution strategy
looking 5G and other new technologies for health, education, industry and tourism.

Taxing worsens existing universal communication access problems. Bottlenecks of

access to universal communication existed. Thousands of Ugandans still find
challenges accessing communication due to unreliable electricity to power the
internet enabling gadgets. In international Twitter spaces, hosts often make fun of
the Ugandan internet. There is evidently poor quality and unreliable internet,
especially at peak hours. You cannot guarantee that you will last the entire Zoom
webinar even if you paid the tax. There are unjustifiable internet shutdowns.
Facebook is still blocked in Uganda. Imagine paying a tax for a service you do not
use at all like it was during the 2021 elections.

Limited access to information comes with side effects. We are already seeing the
irreversible effects of fake news. Often in my neighbourhood, people quote
WhatsApp messages they read on other person’s phone as gospel truth including
fake COVID-19 deaths of prominent people. Fake news is now another military-
grade weapon that can be neutralised if everyone can be online frequently. You
cannot effectively flag off fake online news with people who can only afford to be
online during selected days with data bundle promotions. The solution is removing
internet taxes so that everyone can get online easily. Who is listening to online
government communications? If the only time citizens are online is at the office or
when they subscribe to a Friday data bundle, it is dangerous.

Taxing internet communication is just a walk backwards and just widens gender,
literacy, wealth and technology gaps in Uganda. Let us not leave anyone behind.
Well-to-do families can afford the internet for education but the ones in rural areas
are cut off because of the cost of gadgets and the internet. According to UCC, at the
end of September 2020, total internet subscriptions had for the first time in industry
history crossed the 20 million mark. I guess the numbers would be more if we
removed the internet tax. World today relies on universal communication access for
behavioural change communications impact.

We should support taxing online transactions, but be careful not to tax internet
access. What is internet access without telemedicine, governance, justice,
development, media, employment, finance, and education? Taxing communications
won't benefit anyone. The tax should never have been about addressing the misuse
of the internet because we already have enough laws to check that. Internet data
and phone airtime is a full human right enabler that must not be taxed. Taxing limits
the right to business, health, work, and employment.

Ivan N Baliboola
Public Relations & Organisational diagnosis specialist
nbaliboola@gmail.com