July 09, 2018

The folly of Uganda’s social media tax

located:	Uganda
editor:	Bob Koigi

In one of the most brazen and historic developments in the tech industry, the government of Uganda has recently introduced a social media tax as part of what it says are new avenues for raising revenue and silencing online gossiping.

To access social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, Whatsapp or online dating sites, Ugandan users are now required to pay a $0.05 tax on a daily basis. Should one fail to pay upfront, they will be blocked from accessing the sites. The tax comes in the wake of an additional increase of one percent tax levy on mobile money transactions, instituted by the Ugandan government.

The tax has attracted both local and international furore, while sparking an avalanche of court cases. Ugandans, who have expressed a sense of oppression from this new tax imposition, have rallied behind the #Thistaxmustgo hashtag – with that, igniting global support.

The new tax has been interpreted as the latest government effort to stifle freedom of speech as concerns grow around thinning democratic space in a country that has been characterised by the jailing of journalists, activists and state monitoring of citizens' activities online; actions that stand in total disregard of a constitution that protects freedom of speech.

Another key factor fuelling the fury among Ugandan citizens is the government’s reasoning for the introduction of the tax as a source of revenue for development projects. In a country that ranks dismally in the corruption index; where government officials have reportedly increased their salaries with hefty pay, this tax introduction has left ordinary citizens feeling robbed and silenced by their government. The cost of living in the country has spiralled to unprecedented highs and the number of people living in extreme poverty has grown from 6.6 million in 2013 to 10 million in 2017. This new tax stands as yet another confirmation that the government continues to look for any possible, and sometimes immoral, way to milk its citizens dry.

The #Thistaxmustgo movement – which has congregated the country's young and old around a campaign meant to demand respect for basic human rights such as freedom of speech – is perhaps the first step to a people-powered revolution in the country.