Public Unions have threatened to call for industrial action, as they are concerned the average worker is already overtaxed and the proposed taxation rate in the financial bill was harsh.
“We are urging Parliament to reject the proposed amendments 2023, we are also urging the government to reduce taxes imposed on workers and we call upon the government to immediately engage representatives of workers unions to agree on the best way forward,” Kenya Universities Staff Union Secretary General Charles Mukhwaya said.
“The Finance Bill 2023, if passed the way it is, will see total deductions of upto 22 percent of one’s monthly earnings, with the remaining 48 percent still subjected to 16 percent VAT of all goods and services bought, whose prices are ever increasing. The rising cost of living makes a public service employee a slave who cannot afford a decent life,” he added.
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Among the deductions submitted to parliament for approval under the Finance Bill 2023 are, 3% for president Ruto’s affordable housing plan, 15% taxation for content creators and digital traders for money made in the digital space, tax on human hair, eyelashes, switches, and artificial nails in a move that will raise the prices of these beauty products, Sh100,000 per metric tonne of imported fish or 20 percent of the value, just to mention a few.
Treasury CS Njuguna Ndung’u has, however, capped the proposed deductions, which will be matched by employers, at Sh5,000 in what is largely a reintroduction of a policy rejected during retired President Uhuru Kenyatta’s administration.
