Treasury and National Planning Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi has dismissed reports suggesting that new tax measures proposed by the Ministry will burden Kenyans.
Instead, Mbadi asserts that the amendments aim to enhance the lives of Kenyan citizens.
“The amendments we are bringing, a lot of them, the larger percentage, is to help make life easy for Kenyans. It is not necessarily to yield tax. But there are some that would yield tax, these ones we are bringing because we want fairness in taxation,” said the CS
Mbadi revealed that his Ministry is exploring ways to avoid the annual practice of drafting a Finance Bill as a means for the government to achieve its revenue targets.
“We will not make many changes to our tax laws. As matter of fact, we are discussing at Treasury whether next year we should avoid bringing anything called Finance Bill at all,” he said
He emphasised that the new tax measures aim to level the playing field and ensure that all citizens contribute to the nation’s development.
“There are certain unfair imbalances between taxes that we must correct where some people pay tax and others don’t. I don’t think anyone would be happy if they pay tax and others don’t pay tax,” he remarked
He urged Kenyans to embrace the new proposals, reiterating that they are designed for the benefit of both individuals and the country as a whole.
“We have lived in a system where tax is viewed as punitive to the extent that we think Kenyans should not be responsible,” he stated
