Uganda has foregone UGX 5 trillion in tax revenue as a result of incentives granted to taxpayers, according to Uganda Radionetwork. The outlet reported the figure on Saturday, 26 September 2026, describing the amount as revenue the government gave up rather than collected.
Tax incentives typically take the form of exemptions, deductions or reduced rates offered to businesses and investors. When such relief is granted, the money that would otherwise have entered public coffers is recorded as forgone revenue. According to Uganda Radionetwork, the total in this case stands at UGX 5 trillion.
The report did not name the companies or sectors that received the incentives, nor did it set out the period over which the revenue was given up. It also did not indicate how the figure was calculated or which agency compiled it. Those specifics were not included in the material available.
The scale of the amount places the waived revenue in the same range as major areas of public spending, which is why forgone tax revenue tends to draw scrutiny. Governments that offer incentives usually do so to attract investment, spur activity in particular industries or support businesses seen as strategic. Whether those goals were met in this instance cannot be determined from the reporting.
Uganda Radionetwork's headline frames the UGX 5 trillion as a loss to the public purse, a framing that raises the question of what the country received in return.
What to watch next: whether Uganda's finance authorities publish a breakdown of the incentives, including which taxpayers benefited and the timeframe involved.