{"id":245038,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/245038/?format=json","text_counter":168,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Mr. Kipchumba","speaker_title":"","speaker":{"id":313,"legal_name":"Joseph Kipchumba Lagat","slug":"joseph-lagat"},"content":"Mr. Chairman, Sir, I would like to support the proposals outlined by the Minister for Finance. However, there are a few issues that we must address as a House. While I appreciate that zero-rating of tax will in the final analysis allow Kenyans to purchase items at lower prices, I would like to request the Minister to look at the issue of zero-rating wheat. What would be the impact of zero-rating wheat? The price of maize flour may finally be lower but what happens to the locally produced wheat? There is a danger that imported wheat flour could easily be cheaper because people do not import wheat but wheat flour. Therefore, if it is zero-rated, it means that the wheat flour that is imported will be very cheap. That will flood the local market and kill the production locally."}