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{
    "id": 936891,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/936891/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 219,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Nambale, ANC",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Sakwa Bunyasi",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 2511,
        "legal_name": "John Sakwa Bunyasi",
        "slug": "john-sakwa-bunyasi"
    },
    "content": " Indeed, as it should be, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker. I will be very brief. I thought I should say something on the VAT issue in respect of what Hon. Mbui was saying. In respect of what is before the Floor, I can only congratulate the committee and say that any efforts towards simplification are very good. The tax code is never simple even when it is simplified. Anything that makes it easier than the prior requirements is welcome. It means you can collect tax at a minimum cost. If there is compliance which is simple, many people can comply. I agree with Hon. Ndindi Nyoro that this is part of a broad theme of taxation. Every citizen has to pay tax. However, taxes should only be levied in a justifiable manner. One way in which justifiability can arise is if the expenditures supported by the taxes are misused and if the priorities are not optimal. So, the nation has to worry about taxation as a whole. It usually falls down on the weakest of society because they can push back. I think it is fair to use this opportunity to make comments and raise awareness that you tax only when you must and only when the taxation is going to contribute to the general welfare of society. We have big issues in Kenya on debt and whether the debt is what it must be. Remember debt is going to be collected and paid mostly through taxation of one kind or another. Two, we have so much leakage because of financial mismanagement and outright theft and graft. All those monies that are raised through one tax measure or another end up being wasted; even if they are borrowed, it has to be paid for"
}