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{
    "id": 1254411,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1254411/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 164,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "North Imenti, Independent",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Rahim Dawood",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "The reason I am supporting this Bill is because the Committee Chaired by Hon. Kimani Kuria has done an excellent job. Clause 36 of the Finance Bill states: “Section 32 of the Tax Appeals Tribunal Act, 2013, is amended— (a) by inserting the following proviso to subsection (1)— Provided that where a party is not the Commissioner, that party shall deposit with the Commissioner an amount equivalent to twenty per cent of the disputed tax or security equivalent to twenty per cent of the disputed tax before filing the appeal.” This clause has been overturned by the Committee. That is a good proposal. The Committee, again, has overruled the National Treasury on tax exemption. That is what Hon. Makali Mulu has talked about. The Committee in its wisdom has proposed that the clause that the National Treasury had proposed tax exemption for fertilizers and pesticides, together with tea, be zero-rated so that companies that produce fertilizers and pesticides can claim the VAT. The other thing that one of the previous speakers has talked about and I raised an issue on it is the mobile tax. The mobile tax has not been increased. It was proposed to be 15 per cent from 12 percent. However, the Committee has ignored the National Treasury proposal and has proposed to retain it at 12 per cent. That should be noted. On digital content, a few speakers previously said that the proposed tax on digital content was 15 per cent. Yes, the National Treasury had proposed the 15 per cent tax, but the Committee has reduced it to 5 per cent. There are many other things that are good in this Bill. The proposed rental income was at 10 per cent, but it has been reduced to 7.5 per cent. Let us look at the good things in the Bill. I believe that once the Bill comes into force, we will have the Housing Levy. I need houses. There are Members who said they do not need houses. I need houses in my constituency. Meru County is ready to take all the houses that will be provided. We are not looking for houses for ourselves; we are looking for houses for our people. In Clause 52, the Committee has rejected the proposal from the National Treasury to give the Commissioner of Tax notification of abuse of power. So, there are many good things in the Bill. The 16 per cent tax on LPG has already been removed. That means that the liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) will be cheaper. There are many incentives for the green energy. With those few remarks, I support the Bill. There are people in many WhatsApp groups who have said that they will probably not elect us in 2027. I want to tell them to wait and see how these tax proposals will work. I believe they will work for our good. The Azimio Coalition should give us their budget proposals. They should not pinpoint the bad parts of the Bill. They should tell us what they would do differently rather than criticising everything that has been proposed."
}