Some Homa Bay residents want the county government to stop implementing digital revenue collection on grounds that the method has some irregularities.
The traders argued the new system of tax remittance will lead to loss of funds and make the county government not achieve optimum collection.
Two weeks ago, Governor Gladys Wanga directed resumption of tax collection after granting them a 20-day tax holiday.
Wanga introduced a digital method of collecting tax after a task force identified some loopholes that marred manual collection system.
Some of the issues identified included corruption where revenue officers were found to be pocketing money they collect instead of sending it to the county treasury.
The new system will ensure residents send money directly to a bank account run by the government. In the new method, the money is sent through mobile phones and receipt issued to them in the form of a text message.
But some residents have poked holes in the method saying the whole process of suspending collection, formation of the taskforce and other ongoing processes breach several laws including failure by the devolved unit to conduct public participation.
Trader Evans Oloo argued the new system is not inclusive.
“Livestock traders are left out in the system making it not to comply with the Homa Bay County Government Finance Act 2020,” Oloo said.
In a letter written through Onyango Otunga and Company Advocates to show intention of filing a case in court, Oloo said the digital system did not consider issues like poverty and literacy level of traders in Homa Bay.
According to the business operator, some traders do not own mobile phones.
“We know traders who evade paying taxes by editing SMS they received previously and display to officers. Some traders are also not well conversant with mobile phones,” Oloo said.
He further claimed the recommendations by the task force and currently being implemented are discriminatory.
The new system uses Safaricom as the network provider and traders send money on M-Pesa.
Oloo said having one company offering the service goes against the interests of other traders who have phones operated using other mobile network providers like Airtel and Telecom.
“The new system makes traders lose money because there is transaction fee being deducted when paying tax,” he added.
The traders decried the extra payment.
The traders questioned the criteria used to come up with the task force saying the process should be stopped until all challenges are addressed.
