The Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) on Thursday, July 7 announced that it had recorded the highest tax collection in Kenya's history for the financial year ended June 30.
In a statement, the taxman announced it had crossed the Ksh2 trillion mark in revenue collection, a record since it was founded.
The authority collected Ksh2.031 trillion for the 2021/2022 Financial Year compared to Ksh 1.669 trillion collected last year.
"The positive revenue growth rate mirrors the improved tax compliance from patriotic taxpayers who contributed to the collection of revenue surplus of Ksh148.9 billion against the original target, which is the highest surplus ever in KRA’s history.
"The authority registered an above-target stellar revenue performance after exceeding the fiscal year target as stated in the Budget Policy Statement. KRA surpassed the original target of Ksh1.882 trillion and two other upward revenue target revisions of Ksh1.911 trillion, which was later revised to Kshs1.976 trillion. This is the first time it has surpassed its original target in 14 years (since FY 2007/08)," the taxman stated.
KRA revealed that they registered yet another milestone - tripling the levy collections since the 2011/12 financial year in which the revenue stood at Ksh707.36 billion
The taxman stated that it surpassed the domestic tax target of Ksh1.267 trillion by Ksh30.44 billion registering a performance rate of 102.4 per cent.
In addition, Customs and Border control outdid their Ksh702.8 billion target by Ksh25.7 billion. Petroleum taxes grew by 9.4 per cent while non-petroleum increased by 20.7 percentage points
Explaining the growth, it stated that the performance was consistent with the prevailing economic indicators which projected a 5.9 per cent growth in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). It further attributed the growth to internal reforms.
"The performance is further anchored on the ongoing transformation at the authority including the implementation of a high-performance culture with stringent performance accountability as well as strict enforcement of tax laws in the fight against tax evasion," read the statement in part.
The announcement gives a boost to the National Treasury as it will be able to fund 61.3 per cent of the Ksh3.31 trillion budget proposed by Cabinet Secretary Ukur Yattani.
Yattani projected that total revenue collection including Appropriation-in-Aid and grants for the FY 2022/23 budget to be Ksh 2.4 trillion.
