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{
    "id": 1079523,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1079523/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 221,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Kipipiri, JP",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Amos Kimunya",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 174,
        "legal_name": "Amos Muhinga Kimunya",
        "slug": "amos-kimunya"
    },
    "content": "The other thing I looked at is the proposed amendment, in the same paragraph, where the Cabinet Secretary is attempting to tax new substitute products for cigarettes that are meant to sort out the hygiene or health issues because they will not be burning the tobacco to produce nicotine. It is already sifted and is ingested either through the mouth or some other mechanism without harming any other person near you and harming your own lungs. One of the typical examples is Lyft and there are different variations of it. That is a new product being introduced into the country. In his own wisdom, the Cabinet Secretary decides to tax it at the same rate as the cigarettes. How does he tax a product that has not even been put on the market? He cannot make money from business that does not exist. I agree with the Committee totally that let us have an introductory rate. Let these products get into the market. As people accept the healthier alternative to smoking and start losing revenue from cigarettes, then you can incrementally push for taxation of the new product but when it has already penetrated the market. Right now, trying to do what he is trying to do will basically shift the investment from Kenya to another country and it will be coming through the backdoor like the electric cigarettes that we find people smoking but nobody knows where they come from and nobody knows how they are taxed. I thank the Committee for that and I support it. We are not going to lose any money because we did not have it in the first place. A product is not being taxed so, if you stop its introduction, it is zero. If you introduce it and get a little money and create a base for future tax increases, it is all the better. The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}