A Member of Parliament elected on a United Democratic Alliance (UDA) ticket, on Tuesday, January 30 cautioned that more businesses will be closed down if the government continues with its current taxation appetite.
James Gakuya, the Embakasi North Member of Parliament in an interview with TV47 stated that the current regime’s taxation policies are unfriendly and becoming too much for businesses to handle.
The MP, further stated that despite the high taxation that the government has been imposing, the targets and trajectories of government projects were not changing.
“You may think that overtaxing Kenyans, will be the solution but you’ve realised that, your targets and trajectories are not changing even after making such strife interventions,” Gakuya stated
According to him, the government has been overtaxing Kenyans, a system, he opined will contribute to more people being driven out of business.
“Once you push Kenyans to the end, most of them will just close shop,” Gakuya added.
He further noted that the government leaves a lot to be desired when it comes to public participation despite being reliant on the people.
Gakuya also added that representation of Kenyans was not adequately achieved as they were not involved in every step of the process of decision-making leading to ideas being imposed on them.
The conversation comes at a time when the government has reviewed its taxation policies since it came into power.
In November 2023, the National Assembly Finance Committee made five major recommendations to the National Tax Policy which influenced the taxation of basic goods and services.
Some of the recommendations included; increasing excise duty on select items and adding VAT taxes on some basic goods which were not previously taxed.
These changes have contributed to the uproar with Kenyans citing over taxation and a hostile business environment as some of the factors hindering Kenyan businesses from prospering.
