Times Tower in Nairobi, the headquarters of Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA). Picture taken on Thursday, October 15, 2020. PHOTO | DENNIS ONSONGO | NMG
Azimio la Umoja One Kenya’s presidential candidate Raila Odinga has vowed to create a friendly and efficient tax system in a bid to grow compliance levels if he wins the August 9 polls.
Mr Odinga, who is making a fifth bid at the presidency, has pledged to implement a taxation regime which “treats taxpayers fairly and efficiently and to make the tax system simple, clear and user friendly”.
Tax experts and business leaders have over the years complained that Kenya’s tax regime is largely unpredictable and one that over-burdens a few persons and firms in the formal sector with increased taxes.
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For example, an estimated 6.1 million taxpayers had been registered on the electronic tax payment and filing platform, iTax, by June 2021 in a country of more than 19.6 million registered voters in the 2017 presidential poll.
Rebranding KRA
The number of voters has crossed the 22 million mark this year, according to provisional statistics by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission.
“[We will] undertake reforms in the tax regime to make taxation fair, equitable, inclusive, efficient, effective, predictable and sustainable,” Mr Odinga pledged Monday night when he launched Azimio’s manifesto. “We will promote voluntary compliance of citizens to taxation.”
Mr Odinga’s plan appears to be in line with the recent reforms journey the Treasury and the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) have embarked on.
Treasury Cabinet secretary Ukur Yatani has proposed an amendment to the law to rebrand KRA to Kenya Revenue Service in a move aimed at transforming “its public image thus enhance tax compliance through improved public relations and maintain a clear focus on taxpayers’ needs”.
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“The term ‘Authority’ sometimes has a connotation of a command…and commanding is not the real role of KRA. Our role is of service delivery to the people,” KRA board chairman Francis Muthaura told the Business Daily last October. “We have geared up towards expansion of the tax base as a tool for establishing a stable equilibrium in the taxation equation.”
In a bid to ensure predictability in the tax administration, the Treasury has further drafted National Tax Policy, which is undergoing a consultative process with stakeholders, according to Mr Yatani.
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