Cabinet Administrative Secretary (CAS) to the Office of Prime Cabinet Secretary, Isaac Mwaura, on Monday, May 15, faulted small business holders for failing to aid the government in raising revenue.
While speaking at K24, the CAS gave a breakdown of the Kenyans making statutory monthly salary deductions.
He noted that in a workforce of nearly 20 million Kenyans, only 3 million were making contributions.
“When it comes to the PAYE tax, only 5 million Kenyans make contributions to the government.
“700,000 of the lot is drawn from the government with slightly over 2.3 million coming from the private sector,” he noted.
Mwaura noted that Kenyans engaged in businesses and private employment were also helping the government raise revenue through filing their taxes.
“We have like 16 million Kenyans who are working in the informal sector and only 6 million of them keep proper records that can be used for taxation purposes,” he noted.
“It is not right that only 3 million people are given the burden of raising revenue for the government,” he explained why small businesses should also help the government.
The CAS further revealed that there should be a concerted effort to ensure that people in the informal sector were helped in getting a steady stream of revenue.
His sentiments came a day after President William Ruto dismissed concerns that his government was overtaxing Kenyans.
“We are not overtaxing ourselves. We have to be realistic, if we do not pay taxes, we cannot be like the countries we want to be in their shoes,” the President noted during a media engagement on Sunday, May 14.
In justification, Ruto noted that Kenya's rate of tax as a percentage of the Gross Domestic Product was only 14 per cent, much lower than its peers such as Tunisia and South Africa, whose rates are between 23 and 28 per cent.
On October 28, 2022, President William Ruto revealed that only 7 million people had Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) PINs.
While releasing the figures, Ruto noted that his administration would not hurt any business when collecting revenue.
“We are committed to instituting a comprehensive culture change at the KRA to make it much more supportive of taxpayers.
"We will make it a people-friendly customer-centric organization that facilitates taxpayer compliance as a co-tax administration strategy,” the President promised Kenyans back then.
According to KRA data, over 4.4 million Kenyans pay PAYE tax, and KRA collected Ksh1. 55 trillion for the 2022/23 financial year.
"As at the close of March 2023, revenue collection averaged 95.1 per cent on original target and 93.4 per cent on Supplementary target, representing a collection of Sh1.554 trillion," a statement from KRA read in part.
