Kenyans have strongly condemned a proposal to increase the tax on bread in the next Financial Year.
Speaking separately to the Star, the citizens the price of bread, which retails at Sh60 for a 400-gram loaf, is already too high for the common man.
“The current price is already too high for us. The government should think about reducing it and not raising the tax,” said a trader in Westlands, Nairobi.
The Finance Bill 2024 had suggested implementing a 16 per cent tax on bread, which would have led to an approximate price increase of Sh10 for a 400-gram loaf, raising the average cost from approximately Sh60 to around Sh75.
The National Treasury proposed to put VAT on bread, with a rate of 16 per cent after removing bread from tax exemption.
President William Ruto has however expressed concerns over the potential impact on consumers and instructed the relevant authorities to reconsider the proposal.
Earlier in March, National Treasury Cabinet Secretary Njuguna Ndung'u had expressed his stance on the tax, arguing that zero-rating bread and milk had not effectively benefited low-income households or the middle class.
