The Secretary General of the Central Organization of Trade Unions (COTU), Francis Atwoli, has asked Members of Parliament to reject bills proposing additional taxes on workers.
Speaking at a funeral in Kakamega county, Atwoli urged Ikolomani MP Bernard Shinali to withdraw the unemployment insurance authority bill.
This bill aims to tax workers and allow those who are temporarily out of work to still receive their salaries.
Atwoli explained that many workers are struggling to make ends meet because of the high taxes imposed by the government.
He believes that these tax increases will leave many informal workers with very little money in their pockets.
“I would want to plead with Shinali to abandon anything related to the employment levy because people’s payslips are being deducted heavily.
We don’t have anything left on our payslips,” he said.
“If we have not yet become economically viable as a country we cannot be able to grow our economy.
Kenya Kwanza is now putting a mechanism into place to see whether it can spur economic growth.
But before that let us not add another burden to Kenyans.”
Atwoli’s concerns come after the government introduced several new taxes in the Finance Act 2023 to help the struggling economy.
One of the most debated taxes is the monthly 3% contribution to the Housing Fund for formal sector employees.
Both employees and employers have to pay 1.5% each.
The government also increased taxes on petroleum products from 8% to 16%.
Importing second-hand vehicles became more expensive too.
In addition, the media industry was affected as advertisement fees for alcoholic beverages, betting, gaming, lotteries, and prize competitions on TV, in print media, on billboards, and on radio stations will now have a 15% Excise Duty.
People who use mobile money services will also have to pay more due to the 15% increment in Excise Duty.
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