The government may introduce more taxes, through amendment bills, to bridge the budget deficit, Treasury Principal Secretary Chris Kiptoo has said.
Kiptoo, who spoke on Tuesday morning during an interview on NTV, called on Kenyans to prepare for "slight" tax changes, should the government decide to go that direction.
For the government to address the needs of most Kenyans, the PS said, there must be adequate funds, which he noted could only be achieved through the introduction of new tax measures.
"I feel like you are asking, are you going to bring in more taxes? I think it should be legitimate. If there is a rationale to bring in a tax measure to raise this country's revenue, Kenyans should welcome," Kiptoo noted.
He added: "For instance, these people who are demonstrating this morning; you would like us to listen to them and for us to pay them, we have to raise some money and we have to balance."
During the interview, Kiptoo attributed the need for more revenue-raising measures to the country's bulging debt, which he noted was nearly reaching unsustainable levels.
Increase in expenditure, Kiptoo noted, is one of the critical issues affecting Kenya's budget. He said the government had taken stringent measures to cut down on spending among state agencies.
Kiptoo was forced to address the issue of increased taxes after Kenyans accused the government of planning to introduce new taxes through the back door.
With the Finance Bill 2025 short of taxes contrary to the expectation of many Kenyans, some members of the public have speculated that the government plans to introduce new taxes through amendment bills, like last year.
In September last year, the government introduced the Tax Laws Amendment Bill, which provided alternative tax measures after President William Ruto rejected the Finance Bill 2024.
The bill, which was signed into law by Ruto and came into effect in December last year, allowed the government to revise some of the taxes that had been rejected in the previous Finance Bill.
The Tax Laws Amendment Bill was part of the broader set of amendments that included the Tax Procedures Amendment Bill and the Business Laws Amendment Bill.
In the amendments, the government aimed at expanding the tax base and address some of the tax challenges highlighted by kenyans during the anti-government protests witnessed in june last year.
