County workers have said the Kenya Kwanza administration is unjustified to impose new taxes on Kenyans, among them the disputed housing levy.
Kenya County Government Workers Union secretary general Roba Duba said the high cost of living has escalated to the highest levels in the recent past and employees have not been spared.
“People whose salaries have not been revised since 2012 should not be subjected to these new taxes. They are already overburdened by inflation,” he explained.
Duba said counties have not been reviewing the salaries of employees every two to three years as it is required to cushion them from inflation.
“This review is called compensation for money eroded from their income by inflation,” he stated.
Addressing a press conference at his office, Duba said workers “are unhappy” with the new tax measures.
“While the government must collect taxes and deliver services, we are concerned that the levies are not commensurate with the salaries,” he added.
“What are you taxing when you have not compensated workers for a decade of inflation.”
Kenya was hit by a wave of protests across the country in July last year over the high cost of living and new taxes.
The government’s tax package increased the value-added tax on petroleum from 8 per cent to 16 per cent and created a new 1.5 per cent housing tax for salaried workers.
Besides the doubling of VAT and the housing levy, the Finance Act 2023 also introduced a tax on the transfer of digital assets such as cryptocurrencies and the tripling of the turnover tax to three per cent.
Imported glass bottles-excluding imported glass bottles for packaging of pharmaceutical products hit by an increased excise duty of 35 per cent from 25 per cent.
There was the introduction of a 15 per cent excise duty on advertisements on various media platforms on alcoholic beverages, betting, gaming, lotteries and prize competitions.
