Kimani Ichungwa says UDA MPs will shoot down Finance Bill proposed in Uhuru’s legacy budget
Kikuyu MP Kimani Ichungwa now claims that the Finance Bill, 2022, proposed by Treasury CS Ukur Yattani in Uhuru's legacy budget, will see Kenyans face tougher economic times if passed in the National Assembly.
In the proposed Bill, the Treasury is seeking to impose a 16 per cent VAT on wheat, cassava flour and maize while commodities such as potatoes and ice cream will be slapped with a 15 per cent VAT.
The Treasury is also seeking to revise excise duties on soda, beer, bottled water and alcoholic drinks by 10 per cent.
Prices of beauty products are also set to increase after they were slapped with a 15 per cent levy in the proposed bill.
Similarly, the cost of motorbikes will go up due to an excise tax increase from Ksh.12,185 to Ksh,13,404 per unit should the bill be passed in the National Assembly.
Speaking during the budget reading exercise on Thursday last week, Treasury CS Ukur Yatani said that the proposed higher taxes were put in place to enable the country to fund its Ksh3.3 trillion 2022/2023 budget.
“This has nothing to do with essential products… They are all luxury items that have nothing to do with the general population of this country,” Yatani said.
The proposed bill is expected to be considered by the National Assembly's Finance and Planning Committee before it is brought into the floor of the House.
MP Ichungwa, however, vowed to rally his colleagues in the National Assembly to reject the Bill noting that it is meant to subject the ordinary citizens to a high cost of living at the expense of some leaders.
The lawmaker claimed that the Bill was not meant to benefit ordinary Kenyans but to aid those in power to raise money for their campaigns.
"We will not pass the Finance Bill you have brought before the National Assembly that is meant to raise the price of flour, milk, bread and bodaboda.
"We will not allow them to raise the standards of living so that they can get money to push their projects. We shall stand firm in the National Assembly to ensure that we bring down the cost of living for the ordinary Kenyans," the lawmaker said at a rally in Nyeri County on Sunday.
