Kenyans are yet to experience increase in prices of basic good despite the hard times most are facing. This will happen because the taxman, Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA), is pushing the implementation of inflation-adjusted tax to the consumers.
The rise in the products comes at a time when Kenyans are experiencing a hard life and this can increase their rate of suffering.
The Commissioner General KRA, Githii Mburu says they had already given a legal notice on the new adjustment, which were to be put in to practice at the start of this month.
“We started our journey moving from 4.5 to 6.5 million and we are looking forward to about 7.5 million this year,” said Mburu. This is because the taxman is aiming at adding one million taxpayers registered with its iTax system by the end of this year.
There has been several criticisms on KRA as many termed it as a ‘playing undertaker’. This has made the body to be open to discussions through the new administration to ease the financial difficulties faced by the taxpayers.
“We are in agreement fully with the new administration that taxes must be collected and taxes must be paid by all Kenyans. We have further agreed that for those Kenyans experiencing difficulty, we must adopt a different approach of empathizing and walking with them,” the KRA Commissioner General said.
Several products are expected to rise in the midst of all the challenges faced by Kenyan. However, the price of petroleum products will not be affected by this.
“All the other excisable products we will make that adjustment. The only category that we are going to leave out are petroleum products because of the currently high prices of fuel. So, we want to support Kenyans in ensuring that that price of fuel doesn’t go higher.” Mburu added.
The commodities whose price are set to rise include beer, which will go at Ksh.144.42 from Ksh134.00 per liter consumed, wines at Ksh.243.43 from Ksh.229 per litre, fruit juices to increase from Ksh.13.30 to Ksh.14.14, bottled water to go at a new rate of Ksh.6.41 from Ksh.6.03,cigarrete filters to go at Ksh.4067.63 from Ksh.3825.99 and sim cards to increase from Ksh 50 to Ksh 53.15.
Will this increment have an impact on the production and sale of local goods?
