Thread by @MzalendoWatch

Hon. @KuriaKimaniMP moves that the #FinanceBill2023 be read a second time. #BungeLiveNA

The committee of finance and planning carried out the most extensive public participation in the history of Parliament. Our members of the secretariat sat hours reviewing the over 1500 memoranda sent to us by email, taking care to respond individually to each of those emails with… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

This comes at a time when we also yesterday evening we did the estimates and appropriations. It's very interesting to note that the budget and appropriations committee when they were doing the public participation, the Kenyans who appeared before them all came with smiling faces.… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

Because they were saying they want roads completed, dams done, connection of water in their homes. But the experience might not have been the same when we were asking the members of public on the views of how that budget that they really wanted implemented, we would raise funds… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

It comes at a time when this Bill faces a lot of falsehoods and political assassination. I've listened to members of the public and this Parliament debating on some matters that are contained on the Bill. - @KuriaKimaniMP #BungeLiveNA

One of them that I really found interesting and unfortunate is the miscommunication on compensation of insurance services. - @KuriaKimaniMP #BungeLiveNA

I want to ask members of the House and the public, is the insurance compensation a taxable supply? Is the compensation of your car when you get involved in an accident, a taxable supply? - @KuriaKimaniMP #BungeLiveNA

What this Clause purports to me where businesses actually hold goods that are vatable, then there would have paid input tax on those particular items. - @KuriaKimaniMP #BungeLiveNA

So if they get compensated plus the VAT that they ask for a refund and then they go ahead and charge output VAT on those particular goods, then it would have been deemed they received that compensation for VAT twice. - @KuriaKimaniMP #BungeLiveNA

So this double VAT refund is what this clause was trying to cure. - @KuriaKimaniMP #BungeLiveNA

I would like to draw your attention to our tax system in Kenya. Our tax revenue as a our share of our GDP has remained consistently at approximately 15%. This stagnation is a cause of concern to the Committee of Finance and National Planning. - @KuriaKimaniMP #BungeLiveNA

In comparison with several other African countries. Botswana's tax revenue per GDP is at 24%, Mauritius is at 18%, Zambia's is at 17% but ours has remained consistently at 13% as of 2021. - @KuriaKimaniMP #BungeLiveNA

These countries have managed to achieve higher tax revenue collection rates. The disparity highlights is a need for us to reassess our tax policy and explore more effective ways of enhancing revenue mobilization. - @KuriaKimaniMP #BungeLiveNA

I'd like to talk about our economy for the last past decade. We've witnessed an evolution in our economy with emergence of employment opportunities in the digital market space. - @KuriaKimaniMP #BungeLiveNA

Additionally, a majority of jobs that have been created during this period were and have been in the informal sector. - @KuriaKimaniMP #BungeLiveNA

The #FinanceBill2023 had several tax proposals that will enable the country to increase its tax base, essentially increasing its revenues. The committee carried out the public participation and deliberated on the matters which informed the following decisions. - @KuriaKimaniMP… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

Clause 10 introduced a new tax called the Digital Assets Tax specifically targeting the taxation of profits generated from digital assets such as cryptocurrencies and NFTs. Many stakeholders expressed their desire to have this proposal removed as they believed it would discourage… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

However, the committee noted that the reason for setting up the tax rate of 3% of the gross turnover is to facilitate compliance and also for simplifying the process. - @KuriaKimaniMP #BungeLiveNA

If this Bill passes as amended, Kenya becomes one of the first countries in the region to recognize cryptocurrencies and digital assets as a form of trade and therefore generating revenue from this particular digital assets. - @KuriaKimaniMP #BungeLiveNA

Stakeholders expressed concerns on Clause 20 which would require that withholding taxes be remitted to the KRA within 24 hours. They believed this timeline was too short and would result to additional administrative expresses. - @KuriaKimaniMP #BungeLiveNA

The committee amended that and said we would allow that these businesses can remit these particular taxes within 5 working days. - @KuriaKimaniMP #BungeLiveNA

Clause 24 introduced Digital Content Monetization at a withholding tax of 15%. If you compare it with other professions i.e legal, accounting fees...all these particular fees are at 3%, that's why we found that charging digital content creators at 500% more was unfair and… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

I like that the introduction of this tax has opened a national dialogue about digital content creators and they came and told us now next time we want you to incentivize us by reducing the prices of our cameras to generate this content. - @KuriaKimaniMP #BungeLiveNA

Clause 28 on the proposed increased VAT on LPG gas from 8% to 16% was a very contentious issue. - @KuriaKimaniMP #BungeLiveNA

We have agreed that we are going to carry on this VAT on fuel at 16% but on the other hand, we looked at the agreement that Kenya has on climate change, climate financing and going green by 2030 and we recommend to this House that we adopt other measures that moving forward that… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…