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{
    "id": 1254394,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1254394/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 147,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Saku, UDA",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Ali Raso",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "Hon. Speaker, the Government is about running schools, building roads and hospitals, and all other services for the well-being of Kenyans. When the other side says they do not want to pay taxes, I want to state the following. I drive to Marsabit for eight hours every week on a first-class tarmac road that was paid for by the Kenyan taxpayers. Our population is small. Therefore, the people of Marsabit or Isiolo could not have afforded to pay for it. For that reason, there are many things that we must have in mind. Taxation is about generations. One generation must bequeath something to the following generation. We have the choice to bequeath them either burden and poverty or prosperity and equity. In this case, I believe that the Kenya Kwanza Government has decided to bequeath equity and property to the people of Kenya and the next generation. Taxation comes with many things. One of them is burden. Everybody must dig into his or her pockets but you have to make a choice. Do you want tomorrow to be much harder than today or to make it hard today, so that you will have a better life tomorrow? Among those things which we, as legislators, must do is to visit Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH) where the very poor or our people who are deprived visit. They hardly get medicine and good services of doctors. Our people are hardly able to pay their bills. The doctors and the staff in KNH do a magnificent job. If we cannot pay for that facility, then what will happen to the majority of Kenyans who do not have an insurance cover to enjoy the best facilities in this country? There is an elephant in the room. There is a lot of haranguing and complaints from the other side because the Kenya Kwanza Government said that we should grow the tax bracket and economy. We have been selectively taxing the few who earn salaries and big companies. Today, we are proposing that everybody who is within reach of taxation should pay tax. That is the discomfort that we are experiencing. This Committee has done a good job. They have tried to balance between tax exemption areas and taxation areas."
}