Uganda’s President Returns Tax Bills Over Casino Winnings and Plastic Duty Proposals

Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni has returned two tax bills to Parliament, objecting to proposed treatment of gaming winnings and a steep increase in excise duty on single-use plastics.

Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni has returned the Income Tax (Amendment) Bill, 2026 and the Excise Duty (Amendment) Bill, 2026 to Parliament for reconsideration, reopening debate on two politically and economically sensitive tax measures.

The two bills were passed by Parliament in April 2026 ahead of the budget reading and the start of the new financial year in July. However, Museveni declined to assent to them and sent them back with proposed changes.

For the gambling sector, the key issue is the tax treatment of winnings from land-based casinos. According to Parliament, Museveni opposed a provision that would exempt winnings from land-based casinos from a 15% withholding tax. He argued that such an exemption would create unnecessary opportunities for tax avoidance and revenue leakage.

The president’s position is that land-based casino winnings should be treated in the same way as winnings from online casinos. This would preserve tax neutrality between physical and digital gaming channels and reduce incentives for operators or players to structure activity through exempt channels purely for tax advantage.

Finance Minister Henry Musasizi backed the president’s position during an appearance before the Committee on Finance, Planning and Economic Development. He said the returned bill had created different tax treatment for the same underlying activity and warned that such a distinction could encourage taxpayers to shift gaming activity into exempt structures.

According to Musasizi, applying the same withholding tax across online and land-based casinos would also help the government realise its original projected revenue of Shs65 billion for the 2026/2027 financial year.

For Uganda’s gaming industry, the development is important because it shows that tax policy is becoming more channel-neutral. The government appears unwilling to create a softer tax position for land-based casino activity while maintaining stricter treatment for online gaming. This approach could influence future regulation of betting, casino and digital gaming products.

The second returned bill concerns excise duty on single-use plastics. Parliament had passed a proposal to raise the tax from 2.5% to 25%, with the aim of discouraging production and consumption of environmentally harmful plastic products.

Museveni opposed the sharp increase, arguing that the 25% rate could adversely affect production and the wider sector. He recommended that the increase be deferred while the policy undergoes further study, especially because viable alternatives to plastic packaging are not yet widely available in Uganda.

Musasizi defended this approach, saying the government could still raise additional revenue by expanding the scope of taxable single-use plastics beyond “kaveeras” to include plastic granules used in manufacturing single-use plastic products, as well as disposable plastic cups, plates, bottles and wraps.

The proposal drew concern from some MPs, who questioned whether maintaining the lower rate would weaken Uganda’s environmental protection policy. Lawmakers noted that plastic pollution remains a visible problem on lake shores and in communities, and asked whether enough research had been done into alternatives.

The returned bills now move back through Parliament’s reconsideration process. The Finance Committee is expected to present a report on the president’s proposals, after which lawmakers will decide whether to accept the amendments or maintain their earlier position.

For the gambling sector, the likely outcome is a clearer and more consistent tax approach across online and land-based casino winnings. For manufacturers, the plastics debate may result in a more gradual environmental tax policy rather than an immediate jump to 25%.

The broader message is that Uganda is trying to balance revenue mobilisation, tax fairness, industrial policy and environmental protection. In gambling, that means closing gaps between online and land-based activity. In plastics, it means slowing down a tax increase that could affect production before alternatives are ready. Both debates show that tax policy is becoming a central tool in shaping regulated industries in Uganda.