Azimio leader Raila Odinga has said that the Kenya Kwanza government wants to treat beauty as a luxury.
In reference to the proposed amendments in the Finance Bill, 2023, Raila said beauty products such as wigs, false beards, eyelashes, human hair and artificial nails will see their taxes rise from Sh0.6 to Sh2.5 per stamp.
"Beauty industry has become a major employer particularly of our youth and women who have been unable to find work elsewhere," he said.
The Azimio leader spoke on Monday while addressing the Media at the Jaramogi Oginga Odidnga Foundation, Nairobi.
He said the beauty industry has provided employment to hustlers, a group whose earnings President William Ruto's administration now wants to go after.
"We disagree, it shall not pass," he declared.
Raila called on MPs to reject the tax proposals fronted and revealed that he has directed Azimio allied MPs to vote against the amendments.
He said the Bill is a piece of punishment that Kenyans should be deeply concerned about.
"The Tsunami of taxes in that Bill will bury everyone, especially the jobless youth and the poor struggling down at the bottom. The Bill is a promissory note to strangle and suffocate the hustlers that Ruto promised to remove the rope from their necks," Raila said.
In the Bill, National Treasury Cabinet Secretary Njuguna Ndungu has proposed a five per cent tax on wigs, false beards and eyebrows.
The CS also wants tax levied on eyelashes, switches and other beauty products including artificial nails.
The Bill, which has been tabled in Parliament, outlines the various revenue-raising measures by the government to finance the Sh6 trillion 2023/24 Budget.
