The Impact of Taxes On Performance of Small Scale Businesses in Makindye Division. A Case Study of Nsambya Parish

Abstract The purpose of this study was to establish the impact of taxes on performance of small scale business enterprises in Makindye division. The study was guided by three research objectives specifically to assess the performance of small scale business enterprises, to find out impact of taxes on performance of small scale business enterprises and to find out constraints to growth of small scale business in Makindye division. The study involved secondary sources of data where the researcher related his study to different author's work and authentication and afterwards he made conclusions. The study used both qualitative and quantitative research design to get an estimation of the respondents' views in regard to the objectives of the study. The target population was market vendors, shop attendants and customers. The study therefore used a sample of 60 respondents from a target population of 70 through use of Slovene's formula. It employed only Random sampling to avoid bias in data presentation. This study also used both primary and secondary sources which all involved data from the field and literature already written by other authors. Due to I imited time the researcher only used questionnaires (respondent's fill-in what they knew about the topic in regard to the formulated questions). After data collection, it was ethically analyzed by use of frequency tables and percentages in addition to bar graphs. The findings revealed that male participated more in the study with a percentage of 66.7% and 33.3% for female respectively, respondents aged 30-35 years participated more than other age groups with a percentage of 41. 7%, most of the respondents were certificate holders (reached secondary) with a 50% response yet a high percentage of them were married with a 65% response in comparison to other status. The study findings depicted that most respondents with a 66.7% response agreed to the statement that small scale business enterprises have increased production levels, have helped businesses to make sales that sustain their expenses (73.3%). Objective two analyzed that respondents agreed that taxes provide security to small scale businesses (81.7%), taxes increase prices of commodities (71.6%) and taxes change the distribution of income (83.4%) and constraints included inadequate market skills, ignorance about taxes and lack of skilled labor. The study concluded that small scale business enterprises have fought poverty amongst the disadvantaged groups; however challenges still exist hence recommendations go to all stakeholders and public to work towards the above challenges for positive results in small scale businesses.