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{
    "id": 305020,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/305020/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 573,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mr. Nyambati",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 116,
        "legal_name": "Walter Enock Osebe Nyambati",
        "slug": "walter-nyambati"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir. I also wish to stand here and support the Finance Bill. First and foremost, I want to take this opportunity to thank the Minister for Finance for being available to us for consultations and for the support we are getting. We are not taking that for granted. We have the right Minister and we should support him in what he is doing. I want to say here and now that it is extremely important for the Minister to really extent the tax base because there are many Kenyans who are supposed to be pay taxes but they do not pay, including the churches that we have talked about. There are some churches which are more commercial than even the commercial enterprises. They make more money than any other business in this country and yet they do not even contribute to charity. Of course, there are many other churches like the Catholic Church, the Seventh Day Adventists (SDA) and the Friends Church which are committed to helping Kenyans in very many ways. We want the Minister to look into these churches and see which ones must be included in the tax bracket because this is stealing from Kenyans in the wrong way and in the name of preaching. We should try and discourage this. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, even hon. Members of Parliament are paying tax and yet we are more charitable. We pay more in terms of charity to our constituencies than any other person or church under the sun. The churches hide when it comes to paying tax. I want to finish by saying that I am happy that the Minister is taking measures against business like scrap metal that are messing up this country in terms of vandalizing telephone and electricity cables among other things. These are some of the things that the Minister must look into and ensure that the penalties are severe so that they discourage these things that affect our economy."
}