Saturday, June 22, 2024 - Finance Chair Kuria Kimani has moved to justify his support for President William Ruto’s draconian Finance Bill which was acrimoniously approved to go to the next stage, amid massive protests by Gen Z.
In response to critics, Kuria explained why the government opted for tough tax decisions, especially for imported goods.
According to Kuria, the incentives were aimed at protecting
the local manufacturing industry that was creating jobs.
He noted that similar decisions were taken in the Finance
Bill 2023 and proved to be fruitful in the job creation agenda.
In particular, he cited the excise duty that was
imposed on imported furniture, a move that saw the local carpentry industry
thrive.
"We zero-rated local assembly of mobile phones and as a
result, we are producing 400,000 phones every day for the external market.
"It demonstrates giving tax incentives to manufacturers
leads to the growth of local manufacturing and promotes the Buy Kenya, Build
Kenya," he stated.
On the other hand, Kuria, who is also the Molo MP, expressed
that Kenya was at risk of losing investors to other countries if measures
were not taken to protect the local manufacturing industry.
"How much do we hate our young people that we'd rather
export these jobs to India and China and not have them here in Kenya?"
Kimani posed.
"How much do we hate ourselves for allowing resources
to go to other countries and not to our own manufacturers?"
In the bill, the government resorted to imposing the Eco
Levy on imported finished goods, especially electronic gadgets like
smartphones.
Initially, the levy was to be imposed on locally
manufactured goods like diapers, however, owing to concerns by the Kenya
Association of Manufacturers (KAM) the decision was rescinded.
The Kenyan DAILY POST
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