Former Safina Party Presidential candidate Jimi Wanjigi believes the government’s plan to generate Ksh.1 trillion in revenue in one year is a fool’s errand.
According to Wanjigi, the target is unrealistic and cannot be met in the time frame proposed because previous governments failed to raise the same amount in more than 20 years.
Wanjigi argued that President Mwai Kibaki’s 10-year tenure only generated Ksh.1 trillion, while his successor Uhuru Kenyatta only collected Ksh.1.9 trillion.
“In my view, the bill is seeking an unrealistic target. It is seeking to raise tax revenue by almost Ksh.1 trillion from the current collections,” he said speaking on NTV Wednesday morning.
“It is an impossible target and it has never been done. Kibaki was there for 10 years and cumulatively he took a tax revenue inherited from President Moi of Ksh.200 billion and by the time he exited he had accumulated a tax revenue of Ksh.1 trillion,” he added.
“Uhuru Kenyatta then took over and cumulatively we have reached Ksh.900 billion over 10 years. Now Kenya Kwanza is saying that in just one year we can achieve a target that has never been achieved.”
Wanjigi argued that the revenue projections proposed in the Finance Bill 2023 will burden taxpayers even more and devastate the economy.
“The Finance Bill is coming at a time when we have no money, there is a high cost of living, and it is viewed as a very punitive bill. It is raising the cost of our pain in terms of our purchases and production,” he said.
According to a report from the National Assembly Finance and National Planning Committee, the Finance Bill 2023 includes a slew of tax policy measures that aim to generate an additional KSh. 211 billion in revenue for Fiscal Year 2023/24, on top of the KSh. 2,571.6 billion projected revenue for the year.
President Willam Ruto has stated that the country must increase revenue collection and reduce its debt burden.
