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{
    "id": 1252715,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1252715/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 123,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Molo, UDA",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Kuria Kimani",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "I want you to give as many Members as possible an opportunity to contribute to this matter, but I only have one last statement to make. The difference between zero-rated and tax- exempt is quite baffling that we use tax exemption and zero-rated interchangeably. They are as different as heaven and earth. Services or products exempted from tax means those businesses cannot claim their import tax. That makes the price of those products at least 16 per cent more expensive. That is why although the Bill proposes to exempt the manufacturing of fertiliser, pharmaceuticals, human vaccines, pesticides, agricultural equipment, and transportation of sugar-cane from farms to factories from being tax exempted, this Committee has recommended that those products and services be moved from tax exemption to zero rates so that the benefit can be transferred to the consumer, by making those products 16 per cent cheaper. I want to urge the KRA to enforce this. Ensure that the benefits can be transferred to the consumer once we transfer those privileges. We want to see the price of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) and cylinders, the cost of locally manufactured fertiliser, locally manufactured medicine, human vaccines and pharmaceuticals, and agricultural processes go down by 16 per cent if this House accepts those proposals. This Bill has an ambitious plan of exporting mobile phones across Africa. We have seen the demand for smartphones and mobile phones in this country and have a big potential to manufacture them. The manufacturers of mobile phones told us if we zero rate products used as raw materials for the assembly of mobile phones, we will be able to manufacture smartphones in Kenya at the cost of at least Ksh8,000, and we will export them to other African countries. We found this to be very revolutionary. We urge this House to support this amendment. We have an influx in the digital space in terms of digital lenders. We found that the Excise Duty and Value-Added Tax on the transaction fees on digital platforms for mobile money and digital lenders was discriminatory against that of banks. Banks were getting preferential treatment by getting preferential rates. Our reports aim to harmonise the rates charged by digital lenders and micro-finance institutions to that of banks to create a level playing field. For some of us, when we left school, we first wanted to open a bank account. For the people that are leaving school, the first thing they want to do is not to open a bank account. It is to have a digital wallet. We need to incentivise this space. It is the next frontier in financial inclusion, and we are asking this House to agree with us and pass the amended Finance Bill as proposed by the Committee on Finance and National Planning. With those many remarks, I want to donate the rest of my minutes so that this House can extensively debate this matter. Hopefully, our good idea can give birth to a great idea, and the great idea can lead to the greatest ideas. With that, I support it. I ask the Vice-Chairman of our Committee, Hon. (Amb) Benjamin Langat, to second."
}