{"id":601903,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/601903/?format=json","text_counter":151,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Hon. Okoth","speaker_title":"","speaker":{"id":12482,"legal_name":"Kenneth Odhiambo Okoth","slug":"kenneth-odhiambo-okoth"},"content":"Under the Kibaki administration, Kenya was in a very good place in terms of tax collection. We moved away from depending a lot on foreign loans for the management of our country’s Budget. We were depending on ourselves. This Tax Procedures Bill gives us an opportunity to make a good law and push the authorities and civil servants to do a great job. The KRA cannot afford to be sleeping on the job. We need to be a self-dependent country, and this starts with a 100 per cent compliance, or as near as possible to 100 per cent, with the collection of taxes, so that the Government does not rely on high interest rates, short-term or long-term loans from local markets, or even from foreign borrowing; that is not necessary. We can plan and live within our means if we collect the right amount from taxes."}