Pambazuka Notional Lottery logo(photo/nation. co.ke)A betting company has gone to court seeking to challenge the increase of tax levy on betting games and lotteries by 50%.
In a suit filed at high court in Nairobi on Friday, Bradley Limited, which owns Pambazuka National Lottery, lamented that all costs and tax increase under the new law meant that betting firms pay 100% taxes.The firm claimed that it would be difficult to run its affairs if the tax cap remained double digits.The tax rise has been implemented despite president Uhuru intervention, who pushed Parliament to reduce the amount to 35%.Betting firms were paying 7.5% tax before the treasury raised it in this year's financial budget.According to Bradley Ltd manager Paul Muchene, the new tax law will eventually destroy the fast-growing industry."The effect of an increase in the lottery tax payable from 5 to 35 percent of the lottery revenue made it to raise the total tax liability to 100% of the revenue and factoring its operations cost," said Mr Muchene.From the papers filed at the court by lawyer Muturi Mwangi,the company said the MPs were rough and intended to discriminate betting firms.