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    "id": 376704,
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    "content": "With the amendment that has been proposed this is going to be a wonderful Bill and later on an Act of Parliament. The same Bill aligns itself to the Constitution which we passed. You can read Article 201 of the Constitution. Previously Ministers could exempt people from paying VAT on capital and investment goods. We do not know when we will have a rogue Minister who will be doing things wrongly. This closes a loophole; even the President and security institutions will have to pay VAT. This will help us raise more revenue. I am also inspired by the reduction of the categories of VAT to three. Previously they were four, that is 12 per cent, zero per cent, 16 per cent and the exempted category. This Bill removes the 12 per cent category. We now have the zero per cent, the 16 per cent and the exempted category. That is a plus. This will reduce corruption. As I said the KRA might not have the machinery to do a thorough and in depth audit and determine what is what in what category. This Bill reduces corruption. We know corruption is rampant in this country. Some of us have been in systems and we have seen corruption and so we know where it is. By reducing the period in which you can claim the VAT input from 12 months to only three months you actually reduce the period for people to team up, manipulate records and raid the Government through bad behavior, which we are trying to fight, so that we assist our people. Use of technology is important in order to reduce the bulk of work at the KRA. This is the only revenue that the Government can generate. All over the world, VAT is growing at a faster rate. The world is moving towards that. This is one of the taxes that can be collected at the cheapest cost. As the Chairman of the Committee on Finance, Planning and Trade has said, once we get the system improved we will be able to collect this tax within the shortest time possible and realize Vision 2030 and other dreams that we have for this country. If you look at the 2003 revised version and the proposed one of 2011 you will realize that there are a lot of essential things that were excluded, for instance medicine and medical equipment. I believe it is high time we took these back to the zero-rated category. This is because we need to have a healthy nation. We need a working nation that is healthy. Medicines should be zero-rated. Since we have been given a blank cheque to do the necessary amendments, I believe this will be beneficial to this country. On processed milk and milk products, I believe we are going to zero-rate them, so that we put everybody at the same level, the rich and the poor; the leaders and all. Zero-rating of products such as unga will be benefiting our people. Agricultural inputs, insecticides, pesticides, fertilizers and such things need to be zero- rated; this will translate to a cheaper cost of production, which will translate to cheaper prices, and competitiveness within the region. That way, our people will access food. I suggest that animal feed and electrical goods fall into this category. It is high time we included sanitary pads in this category. It is not anybody’s wish to be born a lady. Let us talk about computers. When the Jubilee Government promises that it will give computers to our children, I believe that computers are very necessary because we need to do things efficiently. I second this Bill and urge everybody in this House who would like to see our infrastructure improve, and our country increasing the revenue allocated to the youth support this Bill. Let us propose amendments to this Bill that will benefit our people. Thank you, hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker."
}