Saturday, May 20, 2023 – President William Ruto’s Government has explained that the Finance Bill 2023 has its good side despite some Kenyans opposing the bill.
In a statement issued by the Treasury on Saturday, the government said it will not increase taxes on alcohol and cigarettes.
The Treasury said that the choice to restrict the increase in taxes on alcohol and cigarettes was made on purpose to shield the businesses that make them from the high cost of production.
The two products, alongside betting and luxury items, had become an easy target for excise tax increases by the President Uhuru Kenyatta regime, which unleashed back-to-back tax increases on the ‘sin industry’ as it sought to raise additional revenues.
Alcohol and cigarettes were for decades seen as price inelastic, meaning their consumption would not be hurt by price movements in either direction, making the products the easy targets for tax raids.
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