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{
    "id": 1003186,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1003186/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 270,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Dagoretti South, JP",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. John Kiarie",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13322,
        "legal_name": "John Kiarie Waweru",
        "slug": "john-kiarie-waweru"
    },
    "content": " Thank you very much, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker. The opportunity to contribute to this is not taken lightly. I appreciate it. I would also like to commend the Chairman of the Departmental Committee on Finance and National Planning and the Members for the work that has gone into this. There are quite a number of things that can be said about this year’s Budget. There is quite a lot that can be commended and quite a number of issues that need to be critiqued. I am really happy with the presentation that has been made by the Chairman, especially to the effect that the Committee is considering the issue of pensioners being taxed. We all know that the pensioners in this country earn just a fraction of what their salaries were. The pensioners in this country have people that they are taking care of. They have commitments. When we saw the proposal to tax pensioners, some of us made time to come here early so that we can add our voice to what the Chairman has said. It would be ill-informed for us, as a House, to move that we tax our pensioners. There is a second issue that I would like to take up in the Finance Bill. This has to do with taxing of the digital economy. We know that we have been promising jobs to the youth of this country for years and years. Finally, as a Government, this country has been unable to offer the jobs that it has been promising the youth. The youth have resorted to new and imagined technologies as a way of business. We have youth who are running online digital businesses. We have youth who have formed online shops on platforms like WhatsApp, Facebook and other digital platforms. In my view, it would be very wrong for us, as a House, to move that we tax this new digital economy because for some of our youth, it is the only thing that is left for them as a means of livelihood. As far as digital online content taxing is concerned, I stand to oppose that. There is the issue of the Liquid Petroleum Gas (LPG)..."
}