Increasing taxes hurting our businesses, say Kiambu youth

Kiambu county youths in the Micro, small and medium enterprises have called on the government to reconsider increment of more taxes to business as they have put them out of work.

The youths speaking in Kiambu town on Wednesday during a Jiinue growth Programme MSME training organised by Kenya National Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said they  have been driven out of their startup businesses due to the many taxes imposed and lack of capital.

"I am a poultry farmer, two years ago the cost of production was low but now it has doubled and the market is not steady. I was buying a bag of chicken feed at Sh2,800 now it is retailing at Sh4,200. I used to pay electricity tokens of Sh1,000 a month which would be used to hatch chics but now it has gone up to Sh2,800 a month," Ann Mwangi said.

Peter Kimani a farmer, said the agricultural tax will lower his returns as income has lowered with many cutting down their costs due to lack of money.

"I used to sell 50 trays of eggs at Sh300 each now my sales have gone down due to high costs of commodities and taxation and I am selling only 20 trays since a tray of eggs is Sh600," Kimani said.

Susan Njeri an online entrepreneur said most youth lack jobs and capital to start businesses and have found solace in online ventures which have also been imposed tax.

"Most youths in the startups have a challenge of financial literacy and also knowing the tax implications in terms of the business they are interested to start especially online," Njeri said.

Micheal Mburu said those who are doing value addition and exporting products have found themselves in a hard place since they cannot be paid because they lack eTIMS.

"We have found ourselves with a challenge of exporting our products due to lack of eTIMS and we didn't know it was a requirement," Mburu said.

Mt Kenya region KNCCI director George Karanja said financial training for youths is necessary because it will open up their minds on how to conduct their startup businesses.

"From what the youths are telling us, their startup businesses have suffered some challenges since the last national budget. There is also the  Finance bill which is seeking to imposed taxes which are new to them with majority not even aware the bill's implication. They need training to help them understand and adjust their businesses so that they can still earn or maximise their profits," Karanja said.

He said as Parliament committee sits down to discuss the Finance Bill and budget, they should consider the issues raised by Kenyans and exempt some taxes on startup businesses by the youths, so as to motivate them more to do business.

"If they can broaden the tax base, then more people would pay tax and the government would have more money for it to run. They do not need to burden those already paying taxes with more levies until they are unable to run their businesses," he said. 

He added that since Covid-19, many youths embraced online businesses but now the government has raised cost of doing businesses by increasing and introducing new taxes to businesses.

"Let us not be harsh on youths who are innovative and trying to earn an income through businesses. We should support them," he said.

KNCCI Kiambu chapter chairman Richard Ndungu said their youth trainings on how to grow businesses and link them to the market has had a high turn up showing the need for the youths to uplift their businesses despite the many challenges.

"As KNCCI we organised training for youths to grow their businesses. We were shocked to see a huge turnout signifying the need for youths to venture into businesses," he said.

He said the youths have since called on the KNCCI to engage the government on their behalf to have them waived some of the taxes being imposed so that they can be able to grow their businesses.

"We are telling the government to listen to the people. We are requesting MPs to reconsider the  Finance bill as it might hurt peoples businesses,” he said.