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{
    "id": 1441681,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1441681/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 427,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Uriri, ODM",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Mark Nyamita",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": " Hon. Speaker, protect me. I need to be heard in silence. Any reasonable Member of Parliament would object to this Bill as presented on the Floor of the House. This is because there is no way our colleagues on the Government side would sit here and agree to some of the proposals in this Bill. I will begin with sugar-cane transporters. I come from a sugar belt area. We cannot charge VAT on transport and yet, most of the roads, if not all, are murram ones that are not maintained. You cannot say that those who use the roads destroy them. We are, sometimes, lucky that the factories themselves repair them. There is also taxation of bread. Many Members do not eat bread not because they cannot afford, but because they have other alternatives, or they seek healthy types of foodstuffs other than bread. However, the common man relies on bread as a staple food. So, trying to tax it is completely out of this space. The proposal on motor vehicle tax based on its value does not make sense. Someone who drives a Toyota Probox and one who drives a Toyota Land Cruiser V8, like many Members here do, utilise the same space and apply the same weight on the road. If you tax them on value, it would be disproportionate. Therefore, this does not make sense. The proposed tax on vegetable oils would have tremendously increased the cost of food for the common man. So, any reasonable Member in this House, regardless of which side of the House one sits, would definitely oppose this tax. Though the Eco Levy is very progressive, the way it has been inserted into this Bill does not make much sense. We need to impose it only on finished products that are being brought into the country. I am happy because many Members have agreed with this and will oppose the threshold for VAT registration. Over the last month, I have brought young people together in my constituency to try and give them NG-CDF projects. Some of them have registered organisations for the first time. Compelling them to register so that you can tax them did not leave them with any money because we put very little money into our projects. Having said that, I urge my colleagues that this 13th Parliament must stand to be counted. We have a more enlightened public. I commend the Committee for its extensive public participation. I have seen in their Report that they had to add a few more days for people to give their views. How I wish that in the next Bill and all others, we can extend it not only to Members of the Committee, but also to the whole House so that Members can caucus on specific Bills that require a lot of input from the people! Anyone who believes this Bill is not right must come to the Floor of the House, including myself, to propose and support the amendments that will make it more responsive to the people's needs instead of opposing it. I will be in this House to propose my amendments that favour mwananchi and support the ones that will be brought in that favour. Thank you, Hon Speaker. I submit."
}