Tensions high over funding Bill

A Kenyan parliamentary panel has recommended that the government scrap new taxes on items like cars and bread. This is as protesters angered by the measures took to the streets in Nairobi. News24 reports that the tax changes contained in the government's funding Bill for the 2024/25 fiscal year are the latest effort by President William Ruto's administration to boost revenue and reduce borrowing. Committee Chair Kimani Kuria revealed key amendments designed to bridge the deficit, including reductions in tax expenditures, a 1% increase in the railway development levy, and an increase in the import declaration form fee from 2% to 3%. ‘On quantum, we have looked at other ways, such as assessing how much we are losing in terms of our tax expenditures. We have proposed marginal increases in some tax areas to bridge the resource gap,’ Kuria noted. CapitalFM reports that he said the committee recommended scrapping a new tax on motor vehicle ownership, doing away with increased taxes on financial and mobile phone service charges and not introducing value added tax on bread as proposed in the Bill, first introduced in Parliament in May.