There has been a lot of controversy about the Estate Duty tax that was brought into the fore by Senator Samson Charargei who accused the families of former Presidents Moi and Kenyatta of tax evasion. But just what is the Estate Duty tax.

Parliament began drafting or altering legislation in 1963 to regulate the operations of the new country. The Estate Duty Act, CAP 483, was one of the laws altered since it had been copy pasted from England. On June 12, 1969, founding father Jomo Kenyatta gave his consent to the modifications.

All property

“Whenever any person dies, a tax known as estate duty shall be imposed and paid on all property on which the deceased (person) was at the time of his death competent to dispose,” the Estate Duty Act says under Section 7.

The law was later amended after the death of former President Jomo Kenyatta to specifically exempt the names of Kenyatta and Daniel Arap Moi. This was a curious part because people’s names are normally not used in the crafting of the law. However, National Assembly Majority Leader Kimani Ichung’wa insisted that there is no proposal made in the Finance Bill to effect the tax. “There is no proposal to introduce the inheritance tax, I am not aware of any such proposal,” he stated.

“The only way those taxes can be introduced again is through the Finance Bill,” Ichung’wa said.

The Estate Duty Act, which specifically specifies that the late Presidents Kenyatta and Moi are immune from its terms, was uncovered this past week by Nandi Senator Samson Cherargei, and it has since generated considerable excitement.

The concept was that if you received property from a deceased individual, schedule 1 required a certain amount from the estate to be paid as tax. The phrase “death duty” was used.

This would hurt especially poor Kenyans who are not able to make such payments. Prior to a death certificate being issued to the deceased’s beneficiaries so they could obtain the certificate of administration of his estate, the family of the deceased was required to pay the death duty.