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{
    "id": 1051966,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1051966/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 203,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Halake",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13184,
        "legal_name": "Abshiro Soka Halake",
        "slug": "abshiro-soka-halake"
    },
    "content": "These tax policy reforms again go back to punish the people because they are going to stagnate the economy as well. The more taxes that are piled on us and on the Small and Medium enterprises (SMEs) and on everybody else, the more the economy will suffer. The more the economy suffers then the increase we think we will get out of the taxation is going to be defeated. It is going to be a chicken and egg affair. I do not know if the Government realizes this is perhaps the last of the Jubilee Governments budget. I do not know if next year we will be able to do another budget. If the legacy budget - which is the ninth one from the 2013 to date- is such, then the future looks very bleak. Just looking at the tax policy measures to address the shortfalls going forward, the Tax (Amendment) Bill and the Finance Bill Act, 2020 put back taxation on renewable energy and took away taxation relief that was given to the people. All this is just taking us back and is not going to help us. This budget was designed primarily to pursue tax reforms for paying debt. It should have just been called ―Debt Repayment Policy Statement‖ not necessarily the BPS. Anything that has to be people-facing, for example, manufacturing and other things that are going to provide employment for the youth and spur economic growth are absent if not just mentioned in passing. Look at the expenditure increase of 8.9 percent to Kshs35 trillion from the last year. Recurrent budget is the highest of that expenditure. Development budget is 23 percent while recurrent budget is 76 percent. How on earth out of this budget will we spur economic growth that is going to give us anything? It is a very sad situation looking at this budget. I did not see the Committee on Finance and Budget give recommendations on putting in place things such things as tax measures that would help to spur the economy, enhance the debt collection programme, higher taxation on borrowing, economic recovery and other things which is basically looking at widening the tax base. It is not going to help us. It is just going to make the situation worse. I do not want to belabor the issue of public debt because everybody has talked very extensively about it. I know the CS for National Treasury and Planning has told us that he is doing fiscal consolidation. That is again, looking at the wrong parameters, it is The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposes only. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor, Senate."
}