- The CS said it is time for Kenyans to be patriotic.
- He stated that no regime is happy to overburden its citizens with tax.
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Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi said that measures being undertaken by the taxman are aimed at stabilizing revenue collection parameters.
Mudavadi added that Kenyans must embrace the collection of their revenue for the country to get out of its current situation.
He said the government is working to seal tax evasion loopholes.
"There is no country that grows and becomes economically stable without taxing its people. The government gets its revenue to undertake its functions only through borrowing, which leads to debts and taxes collected from its people. Even in developed countries, nobody likes or enjoys paying taxes. But that remains the rule of thumb for a country to sustain itself," Mudavadi said.
The CS said it is time for Kenyans to be patriotic, noting that pain might be experienced now but there is light at the end of the tunnel.
He stated that no regime is happy to overburden its citizens with tax, assuring Kenyans that it will be a relief once things stabilize.
"We are working hard as a government to seal the loopholes of tax evasion even as we look for other avenues on how we can generate revenue. What we are encouraging and working on is expanding the tax bracket and not increasing taxes," he said.
"That is why we are looking for opportunities for creating more jobs so that many people can be enrolled in the tax payment quarter."
According to Mudavadi, measures being put in place by the government in streamlining domestic revenue collection will in the long run help in stabilizing the tax levels being experienced.
He noted that Kenya is strengthening its diaspora as a key pillar in building the country’s economy citing that the current remittance from the Kenyan Diaspora is very encouraging.
"What the country is collecting from Kenyans living abroad at the moment is almost surpassing our export targets. This is a key indicator that we need to have a stable foreign policy that will help us further our partnerships with other countries since we have seen this forms part of what helps us grow our country economically."