- “And do the numbers. As Sam Rayburn said ‘any jackass can kick down a barn but it takes a carpenter to build one'."
- Ndii said critics should show how they can bring down the budget deficit with no tax measures.
Image: FILE
The chairperson of President William Ruto’s Council of Economic Advisors David Ndii has hit out at leaders criticising the government’s taxation plans in the next financial year.
Ndii asked people with issues with Finance Bill 2023 to sit down and write an alternative budget that is cushioned from external shocks without International Monetary Fund (IMF).
He also suggested that they should also show how they can bring down the budget deficit with no tax measures.
“And do the numbers. As Sam Rayburn said ‘any jackass can kick down a barn but it takes a carpenter to build one’,” he tweeted.
The Finance Bill 2023 proposes the amendment of the Employment Act of 2007 to require employers to contribute to the National Housing Development Fund for each of their employees.
Employers will pay three per cent of their employees' monthly basic salary to the Fund, and employees will also be required to contribute three percent of their monthly basic salary.
However, the total contribution from both the employer and employee cannot exceed Sh5,000 per month.
The Finance Bill 2023 also proposes a raft of taxes that will have a major impact on Kenya’s digital content creators and owners of platforms that facilitate the trading of digital assets.
The proposal includes a 15 per cent withholding tax on payments related to the monetisation of digital content, which will significantly impact the thousands of young people who make their living in the digital space.
Also, any person who receives rental income on behalf of the owner of the premises shall deduct tax and within 24 hours remit the amount to the taxman.
This cuts the period the rental income tax is paid from the 20th day of the month, as has been the case.
Ndii also made headlines recently when he said Kenyans have two choices on the cost of electricity; to bear with the high costs or brace for frequent power outages.
He said the Kenya Kwanza government never promised Kenyans cheap electricity during their pre-election manifesto drafted ahead of the August polls.
According to Ndii, the current power bills are a result of high production costs, from the fuel used for generation, and water levies.