The Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) has been given seven days to provide the National Assembly’s Committee on Finance and National Planning with a list of all the people and businesses who benefited from tax waivers, exemptions, and abandonments.
The committee argued with the authority about how it was handling the situation, where it was claimed that the nation lost more than Sh200 billion, during a meeting held over the weekend at Naivasha’s Simba Lodge.
The National Treasury, which was supposed to support revenue collection, was revealed during the meeting to have granted waivers, exemptions, and abandonments despite opposition from the revenue body.
The committee’s chairman, Kimani Kuria, claims that “illegal” waivers and exemptions are to blame for the nation’s repeated failure to meet its budgetary projections.
Speaking to the media outside the meeting, he said that most waivers, exemptions, and abandonments took place between 2021 and 2022.
Powerful people, ministries, a Chinese company, and organizations run by influential people in the nation all benefited.
Many young people have been denied tax compliance certificates, while wealthy people have been exempted, according to Kuria. “We are not satisfied by the information given by KRA as we want to know who these demi-gods are,” Kuria said.
Kuria continued, “We have instructed KRA to report back in seven days with all the names of people and organizations that benefited from these illegal waivers and exemptions.
