The Azimio la Umoja One Kenya coalition party is now alleging that the Kenya Kwanza administration plans to overburden citizens with even more taxes as contained in its Budget Policy Statement 2024.
In a statement to newsrooms after a meeting on Thursday, the opposition party revealed a double taxation plot by the current regime of about Ksh.27,000 per ordinary Kenyan adult.
While calling upon citizens to brace for even tougher times ahead, the political outfit cautioned that the implementation of the Budget Policy Statement (BPS) would increase the suffering of Kenyans especially the middle class and worsen the current state of livelihoods.
“We must forewarn Kenyans that as we predicted, the BPS is confirming the tax burden is set to increase drastically… After going through the Kenya Kwanza’s Budget Policy Statement, our position is that the economic proposals, policies and strategies remain flawed and unachievable,” stated Azimio.
“If the BPS is anything to go by, Kenyans must be ready to tighten their belts because the KK regime is coming after them in a second wave of taxes.”
The opposition added: “To the ordinary Kenyans, the mama mboga, boda boda riders and the people of mjengo, the regime is coming again with a double taxation plan with increased taxes of approximately Ksh.27,000 per adult Kenyan.”
The coalition also claims that the President William Ruto regime has proposed a tax on goods and services supplied to government as well as VAT on educational services, which they said would directly increase school fees and levies on agricultural produce.
Azimio, in its opinion, proposed that the government ought to adopt new ways to revamp the economy such as moderating its expenditure, reducing wastage, and a zero-based budgeting approach instead of relying on its ways which it termed as fruitless.
“As we have always said, this regime is completely irredeemable…The Budget Policy Statement, 2024 is high sounding, vague with promising titles but only intends to raise expenditures and to spend what we don’t have,” read the statement.
Likewise, the outfit faulted the regime over its unrelenting push to implement the controversial Affordable Housing Bill, 2023, underscoring the court order violations and the constant rejection of the Bill by the majority of Kenyans.
According to Azimio, the housing levy is a only punitive mode of collecting taxes, despite the government’s reassurance that it will create more jobs for the youth.
The opposition thus called its lawmakers in the Senate to stand firm in rejecting the Bill, further imploring Kenyans to hold to account MPs in their respective constituencies who voted for the Bill in the National Assembly against their wishes.
“The proponents of the Affordable Housing Levy Bill, 2023 have christened it as an employment creator but nothing can be further from the truth. It remains a punitive tax collection avenue from the already suffering Kenyans,” stated Azimio.
“We ask Kenyan to now put on notice the members of parliament who betrayed their wishes by voting for the punitive Bill.”
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