2022 Presidential candidate and businessman, Jimi Wanjigi, on Wednesday, June 14, argued that President William Ruto's plan to collect Ksh2.9 trillion in revenue was unrealistic.
The businessman opined that Ruto had projected to raise taxes revenue from Ksh1.9 trillion to Ksh2.9 trillion in the 2023/2024 financial year. According to the billionaire, raising money under one financial year was nearly impossible.
In a media interview, Wanjigi claimed that the head of state failed to diagnose the current state of the economy before setting the target.
He added that the economy was stagnant, coupled with the current high cost of living. He thus noted that imposing more taxes would affect the citizens struggling to meet their basic needs.
He added that the current administration had not raised the tax base to help the President meet his revenue target.
"For the very first time, every Kenyan that I know of and is speaking is feeling some sort of pain about the economy. We must ask ourselves, what are the solutions, and what created the problem? Wanjigi posed while speaking on NTV.
"The Finance Bill is coming at a time when we have no money and when we have high cost of living. This Bill is seeking an unrealistic target. It aims to raise tax collected from Ksh1.9 to Ksh2.9 trillion in one year. Mwai Kibaki and Uhuru Kenyatta didn't even achieve this in their respective cumulative tenures," he insisted.
Primarily, Wanjigi noted that Ruto was pushing to raise more funds to service debts and loans. The 2022 Presidential candidate thus advised the head of state to restructure debt repayment plans and slow down on the new punitive tax measures.
"When an economy is in this state, you can't heavily tax people. You will collect less because you've asked for too much.," Wanjigi reiterated.
Ruto had earlier defended his administration against imposing punitive taxes on Kenyans. In his Mashujaa Day speech, Ruto clarified that his administration planned to raise the tax base by creating more employment.
"The answer lies in empowering Kenyans to enter the taxable income category through intentional efforts to create millions of new jobs and taxpayers in due course," Ruto stated on October 20, 2022.
On servicing loans, Ruto insisted that his administration would not default on its repayment obligation. As of Friday, June 9, Kenya's debt stood at Ksh9.6 trillion.
Out of Ksh9.6 trillion, Ksh5 trillion was owed to external creditors, with Ksh4.5 trillion to internal lenders, such as local banks.
Moreover, Ruto ruled out seeking more loans to pay internal debts and address the cash crunch affecting different sectors.
