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{
    "id": 955089,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/955089/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 273,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Kimilili, JP",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Didmus Barasa",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 1885,
        "legal_name": "Didmus Wekesa Barasa Mutua",
        "slug": "didmus-wekesa-barasa-mutua"
    },
    "content": " Thank you, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker for giving me this opportunity to add my voice on this Bill, which I support. Let me take a few minutes to say what I think is not good and needs to be changed through amendments. The economy of this country is driven by SMEs and the proposal to include digital marketing and outside catering to be within the tax bracket will completely hurt that sub-sector. I want to bring to the attention of the House that SMEs are very fragile and the only way that the Government can guard, protect and nurture them to grow is not to tax them. This is going to affect very many Kenyans who really depend on their small businesses to support their families. A country like Kenya, whose economy is growing, should be able to design its tax regime to be in a way that they tax the big boys more to support the people of this country who live below the poverty line, and who are engaged in small businesses of groceries to survive. I do not see why a Government can decide to propose a deletion of a section in the Banking Act that regulates the interest rates. The banking business is very lucrative. They make abnormal profits on a daily basis and those are the institutions that Kenyans should tax. I am very worried that the Government of the Republic of Kenya has failed to provide an enabling environment for companies to thrive. In the recent past, we have seen very many companies closing their shops and branches in this country and downsizing their operations and going to invest elsewhere in neighbouring countries. That is because the environment of doing business in this country is not conducive. It is very expensive and yet those are the people who would have eased the burden of taxation on the common mwananchi or the small person in this country. As we grow and move forward as a country, there is need to have a national conversation on how we can improve the environment of doing business so that we can attract very many foreign investors who are going to contribute to the economy of this country through taxation. By so doing, we will lessen the burden that Kenyans have to bear to give the Government the money to fund all the programmes. We need a conversation again. It appears like the people who are advising the Government on matters of taxation are sleeping on their job. It appears that they are not taking much time to do research and come up with a tax regime that is not oppressive. Therefore, this necessitates the need for us to have a national dialogue and conversation on how we can improve our tax regime. I fully agree that the Government needs money to fund her programmes and that money must come in the name of taxes. But we must also agree that we must protect fragile businesses and start-ups because research indicates that 90 per cent of small businesses that are initiated by Kenyans collapse barely after six months because the cost of doing business is very high. So, this is really something that the Government needs to consider to be able to tap into the expertise of the private sector, the National Assembly and very many Kenyans on how to get more money. That way, the Government can fund her programmes without necessarily approving oppressive tax regimes. The KRA is also to blame for this oppressive tax regime because their collecting efficiency is very low. We also need to have a conversation and really audit the KRA in terms of their commitment because they usually commit themselves to collect taxes but, at the end of the The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposes only. Acertified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}