Kenya: House Sets May 20 Deadline for Public Memoranda on Ruto's Tax Plan

By Laban Wanambisi

Nairobi — Kenyans have until May 20 to submit their views on this year's Finance Bill.

Clerk of the National Assembly Samuel Njoroge said in a public notice that the correspondence can be mailed or hand-delivered to the Departmental Committee on Finance and National Planning.

The setting of the new timeline comes a week after the National Treasury submitted the Finance Bill 2023 to the Parliament.

The Bill is proposing changes to the Employment Act to allow deductions of three percent from employees' basic pay to help fund President William Ruto's ambitious plan to build low-cost homes.

Unions protest

Public Sector Trade Unions have already threatened to call for industrial action if the proposed taxation in the Finance Bill is enacted into law.

In a statement read by Kenya Universities Staff Union (KUSU) Secretary General Charles Mukhwaya, the unions said they are concerned that the average public sector worker is already over-taxed.

They asked Parliamentarians to reject the proposals and urged the government to immediately engage representatives of workers' unions to agree on the best way forward.

"The Finance Bill 2023, if passed the way it is, will see total deductions of upto 22 percent of one's monthly earnings, with the remaining 48 percent still subjected to 16 percent VAT of all goods and services bought, whose prices are ever increasing. The rising cost of living makes a public service employee a slave who cannot afford a decent life," he said.

COTU Secretary General Francis Atwoli advised the government to be cautious in its approach to tax hikes, stating that proposed taxation measures can be counterproductive.

Azimio rejects new taxes

The Azimio Coalition led by Council Chairman Wycliffe Oparanya and Siaya Governor James Orengo called on the government to stop burdening Kenyans with high taxes as the country grapples with the high cost of living.

"If you keep on overburdening Kenyans, it will force the citizens to rise up," Oparanya warned, adding that "the Kenya Kwanza government removed the subsidies hence exposing citizens to the high cost of living".

Caleb Amisi who is the Saboti MP says tax increases should not come at a time majority of Kenyans are experiencing economic hardship.

He urged members in the bipartisan talks committee to ensure they give priority to the issue of over-taxation that he says has overburdened ordinary Kenyans.

The Finance Bill 2023 also proposes a raft of taxes that will have a major impact on Kenya's digital content creators and owners of platforms that facilitate the trading of digital assets.

The proposal includes a 15 percent withholding tax on payments related to the monetization of digital content, which will significantly impact the thousands of young people who make their living in the digital space.

Also, any person who receives rental income on behalf of the owner of the premises shall deduct tax and within 24 hours remit the amount to the taxman.

The Finance Bill 2023 is also seeking to introduce a tax on human hair, eyelashes, switches, and artificial nails in a move that will raise the prices of these beauty products whose usage is on the rise.

This article originally appeared on Capital FM

Photo: Daniel Irungu—EPA-EFE/Shutterstock.com