National Assembly Committee wants KRA to review their policies from taxing current goods worth at USD500 to USD10,000 at the point of entry
MPs proposed that personal items including gifts to wives and children should also be exempted from the newly customs duty tax
More importantly, legislators demanded KRA to have human approach and some sort of privacy while handling tax disputes instead of exposing tourists into public
Members of Parliament have warned Kenya Revenue Authority [KRA] an introduction of new customs tax which is aimed at taxing imported products worth $500 at the point of entry
Addressing KRA’s Commissioner Customs and Boarder Control Department Lilian Nyawanda, National Assembly Committee on Finance and National Planning, Chair, Molo MP Kuria Kimani, stated that, those new taxes will drive away tourists if not checked and amended
“We are going to come up with the review on how you can change those taxes, some of us purchase personal items for our relatives when we go abroad and we can’t subject everything into taxation.
We have seen how some tourists are being mishandled by your officers demanding that kind of tax which according to us (members of parliament) will have more negative repurcations than stabilising our economy,” Kimani stated
According to MPs, some of tourists have decried the way they are being handled by KRA officers at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport [JKIA] with small items like iPhone and other personal items which are valued at more than USD500
This, has resulted, into public outcry, with latest entrance legislators, demanding taxman to drop the new custom tax and look for other measures to increase revenue base without taxing personal items
MPs, including Eldas Legislator Aden Keynan, disclosed that the taxation more significantly, that of customs duty tax, imposed at the point of entry on taxable goods, have already damaged, the country’s face
Keynan pointed out that if the new customs duty tax not reviewed entirely, will affect the economy of the country and expose Kenya into competitive advantage at the verge of struggling
“What taxman should have done is to have something higher than what they have pegged at. We need to review it [customs duty tax] from the current USD 500 to USD 10,000 which is equivalent to Sh1.5 million of the allowable limits,” Keynan remarked
Additionally, Turkana South Dr John Ariko Namoit, observed that, the new taxes should only be focused on expensive goods valued at more than Sh2M without taxing on some of basic commodities and other private items
“Some of us who are polygamous always buy gifts from abroad to surprise our children (wives included) so when you force me to pay tax for each and every child which is valued at more than USD 500, don’t you think that is inhumane and excessive taxation? ,” Namoit asked
Responding to the concerns and views of the MPs, Nyawanda said that Finance Ministers from the East African Community will have to review and make any regulations touching on the controversial customs tax as proposed by Members of Parliament with a view of making changes