• Truckers say they pay the requisite fees for the extraction of the products to the landowner, in addition to paying fees to the loaders.
• They cite double taxation, discrimination, hence exposure to loss of livelihood.
The High Court has declared Machakos county’s tax on transportation of quarry products null and void.
This is after the Truckers Association of Kenya (TAK) sued the county government, saying the new rates set on transportation of the natural resources was way above those levied in other counties.
The truckers had sought the court to declare as unconstitutional, the Third Schedule Part 17 of the County Financial Act, 2020, which introduced the quarry extraction fee for sale of ballast or crushed materials per tonne on site.
They accused the administration of being draconian for setting the new rates without public participation.
“The county passed a piece of legislation containing unreasonable provisions which are punitive and amount to double taxation,” the truckers said.
They said that they pay the requisite fees for the extraction of the products to the landowner, in addition to paying fees to the loaders.
In return, the owners and loaders also pay the fees chargeable by the county government.
The TAK also sought an order to prohibit further implementation of the Finance Act enacted in February without their consent.
“The petitioner [truckers] is entitled to participate in the legislative and policy formulations on the extraction of natural resources, transport and sale of quarry products such as sand, stones, ballast and murram by the county government,” the association said.
The truckers further claimed to have been discriminated in terms of taxation thus exposing them to a real risk of business closure and loss of livelihood.
In the county’s view, however, there was nothing unconstitutional with the Act and all the procedures were fully complied with before its enactment.
“The petitioners simply do not want to pay rates as imposed and regulated by the respondent and they have been filing petitions every financial year in an attempt to frustrate the respondent,” the county said.
In his ruling, Justice George Odunga dismissed public participation, saying that though on short notice, there was an opportunity for public participation.
Despite empowerment to impose property rates, Odunga on Tuesday said the scope cannot be expanded to purchase and transport the extracted stones.
Further, levying of taxes on loaders and the truckers amounts to double taxation, he said.
“The Constitution is very clear that a county is only empowered to impose property rates… the ambit of property rates cannot in my respectful view be expanded to encompass mere purchase and transportation of quarried stones,” Odunga ruled.
Edited by R.Wamochie