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{
    "id": 685191,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/685191/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 41,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Langat",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 384,
        "legal_name": "Benjamin Kipkirui Langat",
        "slug": "benjamin-langat"
    },
    "content": "I now encourage all those who have investments out there to come and invest in our country. As you may be aware, the demand for local housing in Kenya is very high. It is estimated that annually, over 200,000 units of local housing are demanded by Kenyans, but only 50,000 can be made available by investors. In order to reduce this gap and ensure increased supply of decent low cost housing, the Bill proposes to introduce an incentive to encourage investors into the sector by reducing the Corporate Tax rate from 30 per cent to 20 per cent for developers who construct, at least, 1,000 units per year. This House will determine whether the reduction should be for every 1,000 units constructed or 500 units in order to get more Kenyans to enjoy. It is upon this House to determine that. Hon. Deputy Speaker, last year, the Excise Duty on motor vehicles based on the age and specific grade was introduced. This has been perceived to be unfair, unequitable and punitive to the importers of low cost vehicles, but beneficial to importers of luxurious vehicles. In order to address this anomaly, the Bill proposes to remove the specific rate of duty and introduce an ad valorem rate of 20 per cent based on the value of the vehicle. I remember we discussed this matter in this House and we argued that if an importer of a Probox car whose value is Kshs300,000 is charged Kshs150,000 and yet an importer of a Range Rover worth Kshs5 million is charged Kshs200,000, that is clearly unfair and discriminatory to the low income earners. Therefore, this Bill seeks to address such issues so that an importer of a car worth Kshs300,000 will pay 60,000. If you import a car of, say, Kshs5 million, then you have to pay Kshs1 million. This will now be equitable. It will not be biased against the low income earners. It will also ensure that the high end importers pay higher. That is one of the tax principles. So, that decision corrects that anomaly."
}