Entry Instance

HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept

{
    "id": 988278,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/988278/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 268,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Pokot South, JP",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. David Pkosing",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 2662,
        "legal_name": "Losiakou David Pkosing",
        "slug": "losiakou-david-pkosing"
    },
    "content": " Thank you, Hon. Deputy Speaker for giving me this opportunity to contribute to the Tax Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2020. From the outset, I support this, of course, for purposes of cushioning the people of this country. I want to raise a specific issue with the deletion of the proposal and I am hoping the Chair of the Departmental Committee on Finance and National Planning might have taken this into consideration. The deletion of Section 22(c) of the Income Tax Cap.407 will affect home owners. This is very critical to be understood. In this country, we have affordable housing as one of the critical areas of the Big Four Agenda. Housing is again a critical area when we are talking about cushioning people against COVID-19. When people are paying rent, our argument is how we can cushion them from paying rent. However, most of the people are paying rent for private houses and that brings a lot of complications. If it was Government-owned houses, it would have been easy to waive the payment of rent. That means that the deletion will affect about 20,000 Kenyans who have already started paying for ownership of houses. About 400,000 Kenyans have applied for ownership, but people have made contributions of about Kshs245 million. By removing that section, we are removing the benefits that had already been given to them. As we support this, I want to register, as the Chairman of the Committee on Transport and Housing, that my colleagues have realised that to find an equilibrium, as we give benefit to another section of the country in terms of tax, we should not kill another part of the country. I want to urge that as we move to the next level, the owner of the Bill and the Chairman of the Departmental Committee on Finance and National Planning will find an equilibrium, so that Kenyans do not lose. 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."
}