It is a shame the media is just focusing on the 8% VAT on fuel. In the 20 page document the president has made ten recommendations as follows;

1.Definition of betting winnings to include the full payment without subtracting the expenses of the winner. Winnings to be taxed at 20%

2.Reduction of petroleum VAT from 16% to 8% and its implementation date changed from September 2020 to September 2018. Calculation of VAT not to include excise duty, fees and other charges.

3.Motor Vehicle Excise Duty of between 20% and 30%

4.Sugar confectioneries including white chocolate at Sh 20 per kg

5.Telephone and internet data services excise duty at 15% of excisable value (up from current 10%)

6.Money transfer services fees Excise duty at 20% of excisable value (up from current 10%)

7.Other fees charged by financial institutions Excise duty at 20% of excisable value (up from current 10%)

8.Reduction of lotteries, betting and gaming taxes from 35% to 15%

9.Housing Development Fund tax to be paid by the employee at 1.5% and employer at 1.5% of the monthly basic salary. Penalty of 5% for employer who fail to submit the contributions

10.Adulteration levy on kerosene at the rate of KShs 18 per litre. Diesel and Kerosene to cost the same to end adulteration

9.Housing Development Fund tax to be paid by the employee at 1.5% and employer at 1.5% of the monthly basic salary. Penalty of 5% for employer who fail to submit the contributions

Court declares Finance Bill illegal

This government has no clue of what its doing, why tax the same person over and over, the majority of kenyans remain untaxed as they are farmers and small traders, they may not make as much money on average but they sure do leave a better life than the teacher, watchman, office cleaner, messenger who is constantly taxed because the govt is too lazy to develop a tax system that will capture the entire population.

The Sh 18 kerosene adulteration tax is simply just evil. its a transfer of the VAT from motorists to the poorest in society and in urban areas who use stoves to cook and lamps to light

The govt needs to be smarter ama people will just give up and quit trying to work harder, whats the point anyway if the govt takes all your income and gives you nothing in return.

I just made a conscious decision to use return to cash transactions.

On this one i beg to differ. ERC did a study using Tanzania's experiment on the same. Truth is we have a disproportionate number of "kerosene users". We also have a huge fuel adulteration problem. So huge that Burundi and Rwanda have since stopped importing fuel through Kenya. When Tanzania did the same by raising the price of kerosene, the "usage" dropped by almost 80%. When KNBS does their household studies on income & poverty levels, electricity and LPG use, something does not add up with our numbers. 80% of our kerosene is not going to light households but to mix with petrol and diesel.

The upside, once the bill is signed, now you can fuel anywhere without worrying about the quality of fuel.

How will the houses be allocated since its very unfair to pay for someone else's house while you do not have one.