18 Jun 2020 in National Assembly:
19. Also, when we reopen the country, we want to ensure it moves forward. At the same time, we do not want to overburden our citizens with more taxes and squeeze the blood and water left in them. I must admit that this was a very tricky Finance Bill but through our collective effort we got where we are. From the outset, I want to say that majority of Kenyans would like to pay their legal obligation in terms of taxes. They are willing to do so. But what pains them is when a person who earns Kshs40,000 and pays ...
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18 Jun 2020 in National Assembly:
Let me give an example. Go to some online platforms like Alibaba or Amazon, which are the biggest supermarkets in the world. Majority of Kenyans have realised if you want to order a book, computer, phone or whatever else you want, if you order from those sites and it gets shipped to the country, then you realise that that television set that would cost Ksh50,000, you have saved your Khs10,000 or Khs15,000. Some of these platforms have free shipping. You do not even pay any cost for shipping. Therefore, that person who is paying rent at River Road, Kirinyaga Road ...
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18 Jun 2020 in National Assembly:
The KRA has been relying on traditional means of collecting taxes. That is why year after year it never achieves the target. People have moved. You find people now hardly carrying cash. You either swipe your card or pay via M-PESA or the other mobile platforms and yet the KRA has relied on the traditional ways of following up on defaulters. That is why the Committee was asking, could we increase the budgetary allocation of the KRA so that they can invest in vibrant technology systems that will even catch a lot of money that is out there that is ...
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18 Jun 2020 in National Assembly:
of trying to find out how much money you are supposed to pay as your tax obligations? We have people here in downtown whose sales in a day are in millions of shillings. People have hardware businesses. They appear like small items but the value of the property they sell is in millions and yet that income is not captured anywhere in tax system. So, you find them having a lot of money. They are not paying taxes and that person who is earning a salary as little as almost Kshs20,000 – except that we passed a law to exempt ...
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18 Jun 2020 in National Assembly:
A lot has been said about the issue of tax exemption and zero-rating. I have said on the Floor of this House several times that we need to have a predictable business environment that shows this financial year we are zero-rating this. It is sad that the exact product, in less than 12 months, sometimes even before the gazettement of the effective date, we take it back to tax exemption. We are now going to take maize and wheat flour back to zero-rating so that we make this business environment predictable so that if you are going to open a ...
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18 Jun 2020 in National Assembly:
Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, on road toll tax, it is very important that people pay for the services they use. That is one of the principles of taxation. So, if I am going somewhere and I want to go at a particular speed, let me be allowed to go at that speed, using the road that will take me to my destination quickly. If it means paying more and I am willing to do so, let me do so rather than tax a boda boda rider who uses a bad road, to construct a highway he will never use. So, ...
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12 Mar 2020 in National Assembly:
Thank you, Hon. Speaker. First, I congratulate the Committee for a job well-done. I have gone through this Report. One of the things that have been addressed in this Report in Chapter 2 has been the backlog of cases. A total of 52,352 cases have taken more than 10 years to be concluded. That means that 52,000 Kenyans have been waiting for justice to be served to them and this has not happened for 10 years. Majority of the backlog cases - 63 per cent of them - are said to lie with the Magistrates’ Courts. The Committee recommends that ...
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12 Mar 2020 in National Assembly:
resource in terms of the number of magistrates that are serving Kenyans is the lowest in Africa and the world. The 2010 Constitution created the three arms of Government. In their wisdom, the drafters of the Constitution placed tribunals under ministries. However, it is regrettable to note that out of 60 tribunals, only 20 have been properly put where they are supposed to be and that is under the Judiciary. Cabinet Secretaries have failed to appoint their persons and transfer those functions to the Judiciary. This is against the spirit of ensuring that our Constitution is followed and adhered to. ...
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12 Mar 2020 in National Assembly:
With that, I support this Report.
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12 Mar 2020 in National Assembly:
Thank you, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker. I rise to add my voice and to support this Care and Protection of Older Members of the Society Bill from the Senate and to congratulate the Senate for coming up with such a Bill. Article 57 of the Constitution provides for the rights of older people. Therefore, this Bill only comes to give power and more weight to what the authors of the Constitution meant with Article 57 when they said that the older people need to be facilitated to fully participate in the affairs of the society and that they need to ...
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