Anglican Church Of Kenya Opposes The Proposed Increase In Taxes
Led by ACK Arch Bishop Jackson Ole Sapit, the Clergy wants the Finance Bill taken through a thorough public participation process saying Kenyans are already over-taxed and the government should look for alternative mechanisms to raise funds to finance its budget.
“We demand that the proposed Finance Bill of 2023 is subjected to thorough public scrutiny through meaningful public participation before it is presented to Parliament,” Ole Sapit said.
“The bottom line is that the majority of the populations can ill-afford tax increases which seem to feature glaringly in the said bill.”
The Clergy faulted the Kenya Kwanza administration accusing the President William Ruto-led regime of misplaced priorities in addressing the high cost of living in the country.
“While acknowledging that the high cost of fuel and high inflation in the country has been caused by a myriad of factors including global trends, we are concerned that the government has by the default snowballed revenue collection,” the Bishop noted.
He added: “It beats logic that even with the evident financial constraints, the government has not communicated the way forward to the budget deficit, delayed salaries and payments is an indication of skewed priorities.”
The remarks by the ACK come amid controversy over the contentious Finance Bill 2023, which seeks to change the Employment Act by allowing deductions of three per cent from employees’ basic pay to help fund President Ruto’s ambitious plan to build low-cost homes.
The Finance Bill 2023 which was tabled in parliament last week also proposes a 15 per cent withholding tax on payments related to the monetisation of digital content.
It also seeks to introduce a tax on human hair, eyelashes, switches, and artificial nails to rake in more revenue from the cosmetics industry.
