Thursday, May 16, 2024 - The United States government has joined millions of Kenyans in opposing the Finance Bill 2024, which seeks to introduce more taxes on suffering Kenyans.
The bill
which has been proposed by the treasury seeks to introduce taxes on bread, Boda
Boda, Mpesa transactions, Bank transactions, and on motor vehicles.
Speaking
about the bill on Wednesday, US Ambassador to
Kenya Meg Whitman stressed the
importance of taxation consistency in fostering a stable economic environment
in Kenya.
"Taxes are an issue in every
country and what we hear in American companies is that Kenya just needs to be
the lowest taxed but consistent; keeping the tax the same for three, four, or
five years because businesses make investments with a return horizon," she
said.
"You don't expect that you are
going to make your money back in a year but five years, six years, seven years;
so that tax consistency is just equally important."
Addressing methods of increasing
taxes, Whitman advocated for expanding the tax base through job creation rather
than raising tax rates.
"There's two ways; to
increase taxes and also expand the tax bases which is the number of people
(being taxed) and that's why jobs, jobs are so important. Good paying jobs,
with a steady paycheck and some benefits
"When more people have a
steady income they can pay taxes so you expand the number of people and
not just go for the same people."
The Kenyan DAILY POST
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