HOUSE OF SHAME: If Parliament Passes Finance Bill 2024

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The Kenya Parliament will probably vote today to pass the Finance Bill 2024. I’m reliably informed that a most feared ally of President Dr William Samoei Ruto has been talking to legislators to pass the Bill. I also talked to an MP whom we’ve been close since those days when we were both Hustlers in the streets of Eldoret and this is what he said.

“What will my one vote do, Jeff? People have been collecting envelopes the whole of Sunday and I can assure you this thing has already passed.”

That is how frustrated some of our Concentious MPs are.

Still I must do my bit and as the most authoritative blog in Siaya tell you the following:

If passed into law Finance Bill 2024 will be punitive and retrogressive in that it will create reason for other legislation that aim at raising money for the government through taxation.

Like Edwin Sifuna says most of us have not read that Bill but if passed into law it will erode basic gains Kenyans have made over the years in the realm of taxation.

For those of us who abhor serious reading here is a breakdown of the problem.

These Finance Bill 2024 is a progenitor of the Finance Bill 2023 which by all records was the most debated proposed law in Kenya’s history. That Bill had new taxation changes aimed at achieving the ambitious KES 3.6 trillion budget for 2023-24 fiscal year.

That Bill introduced the Housing Levy, revised pay-as-you-earn tax rates with 32.5 percent as the standard and 35 percent for income above KES 6 million, it also increased value-added tax (VAT) on petroleum products from eight percent to 16 percent.

Kenyans said no to that Bill. But the government has to get ratification from Parliament to raise money, so it comes back with a budget not of KES 3.6 trillion but KES 3.9 trillion. This even means more taxation.

We call these Bill retrogressive because it may soon necessitate the revival of the colonial era head tax so as to raise money to run your government.

Remember in the backdrop of all these heavy taxation concurrently runs latent foreign borrowing. The math simply does not math up and the few Kenyans with a conscience have said NO!

I don’t care what you say.

But it appears rather late for anything.

Just have a watchful day. And keep away from Parliament Road.

DalanewsKe

Editorial Tuesday 18 June, 2024