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{
    "id": 685340,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/685340/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 190,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. S.S. Ahmed",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 140,
        "legal_name": "Ahmed Shakeel Shabbir Ahmed",
        "slug": "shakeel-shabbir"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker. I am a Member of the Departmental Committee on Finance, Planning and Trade. We discussed this Bill thoroughly. I wish to support this Bill and propose that we all look at it very carefully. The idea of this Bill, apart from tax procedures, is to operationalise an effective and efficient taxation system. Hitherto, our tax base is very small. The fact of the matter is that less than 20 per cent of Kenyans pay tax and, therefore, they support the rest. This is because the 20 per cent is mostly made up of the middle class, those in Government service and those who have direct salaries. We must broaden the tax base. We must make it viable so that we can broaden the base. As we raise the tax base, we must also give some sort of incentive to the first cadre. The minimum of Kshs144,000 before taxation is small. Nowadays even a maid earns more than that. Sometimes she earns, at least, Kshs10,000. If you want taxes to be paid, it is better for us to give them certain allowances. I propose that we double that to, at least, Kshs20,000 per month so that they can pay taxes as well. The idea was to make the Bill pro-poor. The Budget and the taxation system must be pro-poor. However, there are items in this Bill which are not pro-poor. We have dealt with one or two of them. We agree to disagree. There was taxation of Kshs10,000 in the last Budget on motorcycles or what we call boda boda . This has affected wananchi . There is another tax on motor vehicle importation which has been altered under Clause 21(d) but the issue of boda boda has been left out. We will propose an amendment to deal with the issue and cancel the proposal of charging Kshs10,000 per boda boda as an additional tax. It has not helped the economy. It has taken us backwards. The motorcycles are much more expensive. The taxation on the vehicles that will be imported will be less. We need to improve the culture of paying taxes. The rental income tax of 10 per cent is a noble idea. It should be in such a manner that there are no allowances for unnecessary inclusive expenditure for rental. If you are paying a loan for that property, those are expenses which are allowable. We should not just say 10 per cent of the gross rent. We need to tie it down a bit. The other issue is the banks. I am in full agreement with our colleagues that there is absolutely no reason to increase the core capital because we will only have five or 10 banks like we are trying to get two or three political parties. We do not want five or 10 banks to run in this country. Competition is good and the smaller banks need to be there to create competition. The issue is governance and not the core capital of banks. The proposal that the amount of time for refund of taxation be increased from one to five years does not make sense. We have had a number of people who have complained to us that they have overpaid taxes for a long time and they have not received a refund. The idea was that we set it at one year and then give the revenue support so that they could sort out the backdated refunds. If they are not sure that they have finished the backdated refunds, we should draw a line there and say that they must clear the backlog within one year. This is totally against Government policy. The Government policy is of performance improvement, enhancement and productivity. When you go to a Government office you are told that within 24 hours or three days we will do this or that. We are now increasing it from one year to five years. If we do not pay tax on time, we are charged a penalty. Now you will allow the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) to stay with your 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."
}