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{
    "id": 377271,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/377271/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 495,
    "type": "other",
    "speaker_name": "",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "current VAT Act, we have over 700 items which are zero-rated making this country suffer because when we hear that we have Kshs29 billion, money that is expected to be refunded to people to reinvest and the Government is not able to do so, we are curtailing production. So when we reduce these items and we just have a few exempted products--- If you look at a country like Rwanda, the VAT Act has only three items exempted but in Kenya we have 700. So we think it is a good Bill because we are going to reduce the number to make sure that everybody pays tax. As has been earlier said, we have so many things that are zero-rated but for the prices, you cannot even believe. It is not about the VAT. It is not about taxation. I think it is about people trying to fleece the consumers but this Bill is trying to address that by making sure that we are shifting from subsidizing consumption and subsidizing production. If we lower the cost of production, I believe that goods will be cheap. So this is a Bill that we should all support and I believe everybody is now supporting it. As a Committee, we have also looked at a few items which need to be exempted. We do not want to talk about zero-rating because this is where we again start bringing tax refunds. Once we exempt a few items which we even hope that in future we are going to come of age and not exempt them, we will be moving in the right direction. So, I am here to support this Bill and say that it is addressing some administrative issues. I want to differ with my friend, hon. Ng’ongo who was saying that we are giving the Commissioner a blanket cheque and that we are saying that nobody should appeal a decision made by the Commission. It is true but what we are saying, it is only where we have a tax dispute and the two parties agree to settle out of court. So, if they both agree to settle out of court, the Commissioner’s decision then is final because if you agree to settle out of court, where again do you go to appeal? This Bill is addressing that issue. So we want to support this Bill and say that we have a good tax system and ask that whatever is collected is put into proper use. I remember we passed that we use the GPRS system in the tax collection but it has never been implemented. We even gave it a budgetary provision last time and so as a Committee we have agreed that we are going to follow up and see to it that everything that we pass is followed and make sure that the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) officials collect taxes and make sure that it is put into proper use. We are supporting this Bill and we urge our colleagues to come and support it. We do not want to have an empty House when we come to the Third Reading because that will be a very important stage where we are going to only debate about four items which, if we have the numbers, we might reduce to one. This is because we do not believe that VAT is the cause of the rising prices. We want to say that if we look into other ways, we can reduce the cost of production. We can make sure that our people get these products cheaply and affordably without saying that it is VAT. The VAT is just value added tax. So the taxation is only on the value addition and not on the commodity. That is why our unga is Kshs120 and even when we zero-rate it, I do not expect it to go to Kshs40 if we do not address the other issues. With those few remarks, I want us all to rally our troops and support this Bill and make sure that we have a very good tax system that will make sure that things that are taxed are only taxed because they have to be taxed. However, we want to support the VAT Bill."
}