A new law has recently been passed in the Ugandan parliament. It has been said, users have to pay taxes on social media usage. According to the news of various media reports that such a law has been passed in the country's parliament by the President's initiative. However, the debate has started arising from this law.
According to the BBC, Facebook, WhatsApp, Vibo, and Twitter will be required to pay 200 shillings (local currency) every day for the new law. Ugandan President Yoarei Museveni is the original entrepreneur to pass this law. He thinks social media encourages the gestational practice. But for free to use internet for education or research, he has to use the internet for free.
The new law is expected to come into force on July 1. But the government officials in the country are still smoky about how to be taxed.
Originally the Ugandan Parliament has brought the amendment to imposing excise duty. In addition to Facebook and Twitter, new taxes have been imposed in some other cases. In this, there is a tax of 1 percent rate on the total amount of money sent on mobile phones. Citizens of the country complain this will have harmful effects on the poor people. But Ugandan finance minister David Bahati said in parliament that this step needs to be taken to reduce the burden of nation's national debt.
On the other hand, the government's decision to impose taxes on the use of social media has expressed skepticism that experts from the concerned sector in Uganda They say, it is not clear how this tax will be paid daily.
The news agency Reuters reported that Uganda currently has 2.2 million subscribers of mobile phones. Out of this, only 1 crore 70 lakh subscribers are using the internet. The government's new decision will reduce the use of internet in the country, experts say. And the protesters say that the decision can be limited to the freedom of speech.
