Comedian Timothy Kimani alias Njugush has termed the government’s proposal in the Finance Bill, 2023 to tax digital content creators 15 per cent as unfair.
Njugush argues that while it is the government’s obligation to collect revenue, there is a need for proper structures which do not threaten content creators’ jobs.
In an interview with Hot 96 FM on Monday, the comedian rubbished the narrative that content creators have money to spare, saying a number of them have at times resorted to crowdfunding on social media when in financial distress.
“When the president says me and Butita earn more than him, I knew there was a problem, a narrative that he sold that content creators make so much money. However, for me, I feel that’s unfair because some content creators and I saw Jalang’o say a lot of us are showing off cars but at the same time he didn’t mention a lot of us are posting pay bills for maisha imewaendea mrama,” he said.
According to Njugush, content creation may seem lucrative but the government is trying to oversell the narrative in order to milk more money from the online creators.
He added that there are some digital content creators who make content for fun, without profits, wondering whether they would also be required to file returns at the end of every year in such cases.
“Tax kulipa ni wajibu ya kila mtu and we must do that for the country to grow, but my problem is these are the same people, you know we acting like wamefika wameland kama captain Otoyo, they just landed, these are the same people who promised us Kamarini stadium for six months for six months mpaka miaka kumi ikapita na kamarini stadium bado haijakuja yet they will go and tax mtu akishinda huko nje,” Njugush narrated.
If the digital content creation tax is passed by the lawmakers, the income earned through digital monetization will be subjected to a 15 per cent withholding tax, which is significantly higher than the 5 per cent rate for professional services.
