Churches Plead With Ruto to Scrap Hiked Taxes
Churches Plead With Ruto to Scrap Hiked Taxes
Churches Plead With Ruto to Scrap Hiked Taxes
The Kenya Kwanza administration has been criticized by the National Council of Churches of Kenya (NCCK) of enforcing strict tax laws and ignoring the concerns expressed by various stakeholders. Speaking on February 2 at a conference in Limuru, Council Secretary General Chris Kinyanjui claimed that Ruto disregarded the rule of law by disregarding good governance norms.
“Yes, our members supported you in the election, but they did not support tax increases,” he said. Furthermore, Kinyanjui contended that because Kenyans were finding it difficult to pay their taxes and make ends meet, Ruto’s programs were ineffective.
“Our church members are saying although they supported Kenya Kwanza, we did not support Kenya Kwanza to increase taxes,” Kinyanjui commented.The NCCK lamented that taxation measures, particularly the housing levy and the social health fund, had significantly affected Kenyans’ take-home pay.
“We did not give the Kenya Kwanza mandate, to charge them the housing levy for houses they don’t need,””We don’t want to be charged more, for health like NHIF, increasing it and also the other taxes that are being increased is unjustified,” he added.
In order to solve the nation’s economic issues, NCCK further asked the government to establish a social and economic council.According to the clerics, the council ought to be tasked with addressing and informing the public about further potential levies, particularly those related to agriculture.
According to allegations from the previous year, the government intended to penalize and imprison business owners in the poultry and livestock industries with fines of Ksh 500,000. The Ministry of Agriculture intended to give chicken inspectors the authority to raid farms and examine cars and aircraft that transport chickens.
