The move by the government to introduce an agricultural tax has caused some bad blood with farmers in Mt Kenya, threatening to reduce the support the Kenya Kwanza administration enjoys in the region. Locals accuse their leaders of doing little to protect them. MPs in the region have been at pains to explain how they passed the Finance Act, 2023, leading to the taxes.
On Wednesday, National Assembly Finance and Planning Committee chairperson Kimani Kuria, who had vehemently defended the law during debate in the House last year saying it had accommodated the views of all Kenyans, said it did not provide for the taxing of farmers.
Speaking in Maragwa Constituency in Murang'a County, Mr Kuria, who was among a host of MPs who had accompanied Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua during the official opening of a coffee factory, said the Act only required the registration of farmers on the Electronic Tax Invoice Management Systems (e-Tims). The registration, he said, is crucial to get data on the amount of crops produced in the country and weed out traders who flood the market with imported agricultural produce claiming to have bought them locally.
Source: nation.africa