Treasury plans wealth tax to fix July budget
Wednesday March 10 2021
By OTIATO GUGUYU
Summary
The push to make wealthy individuals pay higher tax rates gained momentum in 2018 but the idea was ultimately dropped.
The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic has battered Kenya’s tax revenue collection at a time when more of its debts are falling due and as it is still grappling with gaping fiscal deficits.
The Finance Bill, which expresses Treasury’s plan for new taxes, duties and relief for the year, is set to be tabled in Parliament next month.
The Treasury is considering imposing higher taxes on Kenya’s super-rich and high-income earners in the new budget starting July as part of a broader strategy to raise revenues that have dropped amid the economic fallout from the Covid-19 pandemic.
It takes Sh2.2m to join richest 1pc of Kenyans
Monday March 01 2021
By VICTOR JUMA
The threshold means that the country’s most affluent class is packed with prosperous professionals and entrepreneurs.
With a Sh2.2 million threshold out of reach of most Kenyans, it also demonstrates the country’s relatively higher poverty levels and reflects Kenya’s wealth inequality.
Sh2.2 million can only secure a small plot of land in Nairobi’s outskirts, with the cheapest apartments in the capital city starting from Sh3 million.
The study describes wealth as the net assets of a person that includes property, cash, equities, business interests less any liabilities like loans.