The Anglican Church of Kenya has protested the proposed tax increases on Kenyans in the Finance Bill 2023, which was put before Parliament last week.
The Clergy, led by ACK Arch Bishop Jackson Ole Sapit, wants the pay Bill to go through a comprehensive public engagement process, claiming that Kenyans are already overtaxed and that the government should search for alternate means to pay its budget.
Ole Sapit said they demand that the proposed Finance Bill of 2023 be subjected to thorough public scrutiny through meaningful public participation before it is presented to Parliament.
"The bottom line is that the majority of the population cannot afford the tax increases that appear to be prominently featured in the said bill."
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The clergy chastised the Kenya Kwanza administration, accusing it of having wrong priorities in resolving the country's high cost of living.
"While acknowledging that the country's high fuel prices and high inflation have been caused by a variety of factors, including global trends," the Bishop said, "we are concerned that the government has by default snowballed revenue collection."
"It defies logic that the government has not communicated the way forward to the budget deficit, delayed salaries and payments are an indication of skewed priorities," he continued.
The ACK's remarks came amid debate surrounding the contentious Finance Bill 2023, which seeks to amend the Employment Act by enabling 3% deductions from employees' basic pay to help fund President Ruto's ambitious plan to create low-cost housing.
The Finance Bill 2023, introduced in Parliament last week, also proposes a 15% withholding tax on payments related to digital content monetisation.
It also intends to tax human hair, eyelashes, switches, and fake nails to generate additional cash from the cosmetics business.
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