National Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi has maintained that imposing higher taxes on Kenyans would not necessarily lead to an increase in revenue.
Speaking while he appeared before the Senate on Wednesday, Mbadi said he had held the same view even before joining the government as a Cabinet Secretary, a stand he said has not changed.
“Senator Sifuna very well knows my stand on taxes, even before I joined the Cabinet. I’m one person who does not believe that higher taxes will lead to more revenue and that is my stand,” Mbadi said.
“Maybe we share that idea with the Gen Zs so it cannot be exclusively the Gen Z’s idea, and I think the government has also sold into the idea that where we have reached, we cannot go further to reduce disposable income,” he said.
Mbadi was responding to a question by Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna, who wanted to know what Mbadi was doing to address the high taxes imposed on Kenyans.
“We have heard the CS himself taking credit that this year’s Finance Bill has no new taxes, but I know it is credit to the Gen Z who have struck the fear of God in this government that they would not attempt to bring new taxes,” Sifuna said.
“What are you doing about existing taxation that you found, including the Housing Levy, the increase in PAYE and VAT on fuel that has seen the cost of taxes on a litre of petrol exceeding the cost of the product?” Sifuna posed.
In May, in a detailed presentation seen by the Star, Mbadi broke down the tax implications for individuals earning Sh60,000 per month, a salary bracket often associated with Kenya’s middle class.
The presentation on the state of the economy was made to MPs during the National Assembly Mid-Term Retreat in Naivasha.
Mbadi said the introduction of the Housing Levy and the Social Health Insurance Fund has been misrepresented as excessive taxation.