Vice President Rigachi Gachagua insisted on Saturday that the controversial 2023 Finance Bill will be enacted despite vociferous opposition from the Azimio coalition.
Mr Gachagua said the government was not worried because the Kenya-Kwanza coalition has the number of parliamentarians to ensure the passage of the bill.
Democrats, who spoke in Kitui when they presided over a fundraiser in support of St. Charles Lwanga Boys’ Secondary School, said the bill needs to be passed to allow the government to fund its development and recurring spending. said.
He dismissed the concerns of opposition lawmakers as misleading and intended only to excite the public, and said the proposed bill was good for Kenya’s accelerating economic growth.
“The truth is, you know very well that even if you oppose the finance bill, it will still pass. You don’t have the numbers. What do we need to do? There is no such thing as “need to,” Democrats asked in an apparent response to Kitui Central MP Makari Mulu’s stated opposition to the bill.
The 2023 Finance Bill dominated the speech at the fundraiser, where Wiper leader Makari told the DPP that it was wrong for the government to tax Kenyans beyond their financial capacity.
bad law
“I have a Ph.D. in Economics and I can say that this is bad law, because no country in the world has made progress in taxing people beyond their earning capacity,” said the three-term lawmaker. rice field.
He proposed raising the value-added tax on petroleum products from the current 8% to 16%, and the 3% housing tax as the most punitive.
Makari called for a negotiated solution to the two clauses as the government talks with the opposition to discuss other alternatives to boost tax revenue.
“We need a roundtable first to determine the expected revenues, as the bill would be counterproductive if passed as is,” he said.
Makari told Democrats, as a member of the opposition, they may not be UDA shareholders, but they certainly represent Kenyans on the taxpayer list.
Earlier, East Kitui lawmaker Nimrod Mbaye also said the bill would pass in parliament as the government has a comfortable majority in the lower house.
housing tax
Mbai questioned why he opposes a 3% housing tax when salaried workers benefit the same communities they come from.
But Gachagua said passing the finance bill would allow the country to generate more revenue to fund development and projects.
“It would be hypocritical for leaders to call on the government to implement development projects and then oppose proposed tax revenue increases to fund such projects,” he said.
The Democratic Progressive Party said the government would not allow volatility to burden Kenyans with unnecessary debt to finance development projects and recurring spending.
He said the country had been stretched to the limit by overborrowing under the previous government.
“We’ve pushed this country to its limits. We can’t go down that road again. We can’t keep digging when we’re in a hole. We have to get out of the financial hole we’re in,” said the DPP. rice field.
pay taxes
Gachagua said the best way for the country to move forward is to pay taxes to build adequate resources for recurring and development spending.
The DP said, “If we don’t collect taxes, we won’t be able to implement the development projects we’re planning nationwide.”
He called on the leaders of the Ukambani region to rally in support of the finance bill.
Gachagua, who is from Kitui, said: “We have hired more teachers and will only build more infrastructure and hire more teachers if we collect enough taxes.”
The vice president also called on leaders of the Ukambani region to rally in support of the government and reject forces that mislead the public with regressive policies.
Democrats also promised to refurbish the school, calling it the best school in the area, and to buy school buses at the request of students.
Gachagua was accompanied by Chief Cabinet Secretary Ezekiel Machogu (in charge of education) and Cabinet Minister Penina Maronza (in charge of tourism), Regional MP Dr Makari Muri, and a number of MPs from the region and beyond.