Members of Parliament on Thursday, March 7, adopted a report by the Budget and Appropriations Committee to have another government entity start collecting taxes.
In the report, the committee, chaired by Kiharu MP Ndindi Nyoro, recommended that the National Land Commission (NLC) should collect land taxes.
"Before submission of the 2025 Budget Policy Statement (BPS), the Cabinet Secretary for National Treasury and Economic Planning authorizes the National Land Commission to be a collector of revenue for the national government," the MPs proposed.
According to the committee, granting the National Land Commission (NLC) the authority to collect revenue will streamline the sector. The approval from the National Treasury will be in accordance with section 76(1) of the Public Finance Management Act 2012.
The Act dictates that a receiver of the national government revenue may authorise a public officer employed by the national government or any of its entities to be a collector of revenue for the national government and remit it to the receiver.
Some of the taxes imposed in the land sector include stamp duty, Capital Gains Tax (CGT), rental income tax, and income tax. Besides taxes land owners are also subject to levies.
The taxes are collected by the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA), which has been on a mission to collect more revenue than collected in previous years.
Notably, in the land sector owners are also required to pay rates depending on the location. Currently, Nairobi has imposed land rates for apartments.
In November 2023, the Ministry of Lands through a gazette notice proposed changes to increase charges for land transactions.
Land Cabinet Secretary Alice Wahome, sought to review the rates as they had remained unchanged for 30 years. Some of the changes proposed rates were double the previous rates.
Per the proposal, the registration of land documents would see Kenyans pay Ksh1,500 and similarly for corporation certificates in the land ownership process.
Additionally, the resubmission of registration of any documents in land transactions will cost Ksh1,500 and the correction of a name not occasioned by the registrar will cost Ksh2,500.
Wahome also proposed the fee for the incorporation of a trust from Ksh5,000 to Ksh50,000.
