South Mugirango MP Silvanus Osoro has attacked Kenyans for opposing the 2024 Finance.
The divisive draft bill has been a source of disagreement among politicians and Kenyans alike, prompting protests in Nairobi on Tuesday before its introduction to Parliament.
President Ruto announced that the government had canceled several fees envisaged in the law, including a 16% Value Added Tax on bread and excise duty on vegetable oil.
While some Kenyans remain disgruntled and want the government to repeal the law entirely, Osoro, the National Assembly Majority Whip, has ignored their concerns, claiming that the government relies on the proposed levies to serve Kenyans.
“When you wake up and say you want roads built, or graduate, get a TSC number and say you want employment, you say you need to be taxed. Ideally, you say, ‘get someplace you can tax so I get employed’,” Osoro told Citizen TV’s Daybreak program on Wednesday.
“When an intern teacher protests in the streets wanting to be employed permanently, they are telling the government to expand the tax base.”
He described the opposition to increased taxes as comical and a deliberate ploy to "demonise" President William Ruto's administration, to which Osoro belongs.
“When someone in the village says they want electricity, they simply say, ‘Please, tax us’. Kenyans must know that the government runs on your taxes,” said the Majority Whip.
Treasury intends to generate Ksh.346.7 billion extra through taxes in the bill, equivalent to 1.9% of Kenya's GDP, to supplement the Ksh.3.9 trillion budget tabled by Cabinet Secretary Njuguna Ndung'u last week.
Osoro claims that the 2024/25 budget allocation for wages and development projects is insufficient. He claims that the government requires more from Kenyans, thus requiring more taxes.
