Good morning,

Thought the economy is already tougher and tax burdens are almost bringing you down on your knees? Not  just yet.

The Kenya Revenue Authority is now plans to track your M-Pesa transactions  to establish if what you declare as returns match what goes in and out of you mobile wallet.

The authority is expected to collect approximately Sh1.9 trillion this year to finance the government's Sh3.02 trillion budget.

Here are the other stories making headlines in the Star this morning.

How counties are losing billions in shady revenue automation schemes

County officials are colluding with private revenue collection firms to loot taxes in those devolved units and pay themselves hefty commissions to boot.

The Star has obtained an exclusive survey conducted by the Commission on Revenue Allocation (CRA) in 15 counties across the country which reveals how top officials contravene tender regulations with impunity; increase fees paid to revenue system vendors at will for commissions and do little or nothing to monitor revenue collection.

Cohen to be buried today

Dutch Tycoon Tob Cohen will be buried on today in a private ceremony.

Lawyers from both sides of the family agreed that Cohen will be buried at a Jewish cemetery in Nairobi at 2pm.

Jewish tradition prescribes that a person should be buried as quickly as possible, usually after 36 hours, but that was impractical given the circumstances.

Old notes deadline: Businesses set deadlines for currency ahead of cut-off

Corporates and other organisations have set deadlines for taking old the old currency ahead of the September 30 deadline set by CBK.

Safaricom will not take old notes from next week Thursday. 

After September 30, all older generation notes will be worthless.

Two weeks ago, the Central Bank of Kenya said there are enough new generation notes in circulation, urging Kenyans to take advantage of the deadline to replace old notes.

About 100 million pieces of the old Sh1,000 note had been returned to the CBK by end of August ahead of September 30 deadline.

Single mother narrates life as a refugee

At the age of 28, she had to leave her four children behind while she fled the war-torn Congo in search of a safe haven.

Saudi Meli, a single mother of five landed at Kakuma with her lastborn having left the rest of her children in the care of her parents.

“I was received at the Kakuma reception Centre, enrolled into the UNHCR system and at this point, I breathed a sigh of freedom. I got some peace of mind that I had not had for a long time,” she said.

We don’t need container stations in Mombasa - KPA

Kenya Ports Authority has poured cold water on the cries by Container Freight Stations (CFSs) over being thrown out of business in the wake of increased uptake of cargo by rail.

In what seems to be a nail in the coffin of CFSs based in Mombasa, KPA has said it does not need the facilities.

This is on increased cargo handling capacity at the Port of Mombasa, reduced cargo dwell time, a more efficient Inland Container Terminal (ICD) in Nairobi-supported by the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) and faster clearing processes at the harbor which have been facilitated by investments in modern technology.