Willis Otieno urges govt to tax wealth, not poverty
By Kiprono Keileb, October 9, 2025Lawyer and political analyst Willis Otieno has called on the government to rethink its taxation strategy, saying the current system unfairly burdens poor Kenyans while sparing the wealthy.
In a post shared on his X account on Thursday, October 9, 2025, Otieno said Kenya must look into public expenditure. “Kenya needs to pivot from tax expansion on essentials to debt restructuring, public expenditure discipline, and broadening the tax base through economic growth, not taxation of the poor,” he wrote
His remarks come at a time when Kenyans are grappling with rising living costs following new tax measures that have pushed up the prices of basic goods and services. Many households continue to feel the strain, with the cost of food, fuel, and electricity taking a bigger share of incomes.
Also watch: How global tax reforms are reshaping Kenya’s economy.
He noted that while institutions such as the World Bank often push for VAT because it’s easy to collect and hard to evade, that doesn’t make it fair. “Ease of collection isn’t the same as fairness,” he wrote, adding that progressive tax is what Kenya needs. “What Kenya needs is a progressive tax system that targets wealth, not survival.” The lawyer added
Also watch: Deputy President Kindiki says that wealthy tax evaders would be forced to pay.
A progressive tax system, as Otieno explains, would focus on higher earners and businesses with greater financial capacity, allowing ordinary citizens to breathe easier. His statement adds to the public debate over how Kenya can balance its books without deepening inequality.
In recent months, many Kenyans have taken to social media to question whether the government’s financial policies are worsening the cost-of-living crisis.
Willis Otieno’s call for discipline in public spending and debt management brings to the limelight a broader concern: that Kenya cannot keep taxing survival while ignoring inefficiency and corruption in government.
At the heart of his message is a reminder that true fairness in taxation lies not in how easy it is to collect, but in how justly it treats those already struggling to make ends meet.