Tough economic times await Kenyans as the cost of living is set to go up after Treasury CS Henry Rotich seeks to introduce taxes on essential commodities like Unga, bread, milk.
The essential commodities were previously zero-rated. However, Rotich seeks to impose Value added tax to the commodities, in a bid to raise cash to finance the 3.074trillion shillings budget for the fiscal year 2018/2019.
A packet of maize flour which retails at around Sh110 will now shoot to around Sh130, with another essential commodity like milk shooting from Sh50 to sh60.
The new changes are contained, in the Tax Amendment Bill for 2018.
CS Rotich had allocated Sh1.6 trillion to the national government, to spearhead Uhuru's big four agenda, 372.7 billion to the counties,17.7 billion to the judiciary,42.5 billion to parliament and 962.5 to consolidated fund services.
Kenya has been on the international radar for immense borrowing to finance Jubilee's top four agenda, a move that has raised many questions than answers.
Once the legislators approve the proposed amendments, manufacturers and suppliers of essential commodities will not be refunded the 16 percent Value Added Tax for raw materials.