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{
    "id": 577819,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/577819/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 269,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. (Dr.) Pukose",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 1458,
        "legal_name": "Robert Pukose",
        "slug": "robert-pukose"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker for allowing me to contribute to this very important Bill, the Excise Duty Bill of 2015. If you look at the principal object of this Bill, you will find that it is actually consolidating the provisions of the imposition and collection of Excise Duty into a separate law which is quite important. If you look at the East African Community (EAC), you will realise that there was the Customs Act that was done in 2004 in which there are provisions of Customs Duty being enforced under the Excise Act Cap. 472 which was also incorporated into this. These provisions consequently repealed the Customs and Excise Act leaving only provisions relating to Excise Duty. Therefore, this is a very important Bill. Just to touch on a few areas that I think are key, if we look at some of the areas dealing with penalty and offences on licensing, we will find that it is the offence of those people who manufacture excisable goods without the requisite licence and are now being liable for imprisonment for a term not exceeding three years or a fine not exceeding Kshs500,000. Although a deterrent but also on the same Bill, it talks of proposing a penalty of double the excisable duty that would have been payable if such a person was licensed. We also have substantial increases of Excise Duty on alcoholic beverages where we have as much as 43 per cent in beer. When it comes to liquids such as beverages and spirits the more than 35 per cent tax, this might turn out to be punitive because it will make people to go back to taking the second generation alcohol and other things. So, this is an area we need to re-look at again and see if amendments can be moved by the Committee because as was mentioned by the Chairman of the Departmental Committee on Finance, Planning and Trade, 70 per cent of what we collect as Excise Duty is from alcohol and tobacco. Therefore, we need to exercise caution in these areas so that people do not go to “third” generation alcohols. Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, the other area we have looked at is the motor vehicles and the motorcycles taxation regime. It is proposing that the tax of motor vehicles which are about three years old will be about 20 per cent which will be much better than what is currently prevailing. Currently, if you import a motor vehicle which is new and more environmentally friendly, you pay more tax. This will mitigate environmental issues. People will now tend to go for motor vehicles that are friendly to the environment because the taxation will be less compared with an old vehicle where they will be required to pay more. There are also other issues such as the introduction of Excise Duty on other fees on the insurance industry. This Bill proposes to reduce Excise Duty by about 10 per cent on other fees The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}