By Enyichukwu Enemanna
The parliament in Kenya on Thursday voted to approve this year’s proposed finance law, but rejected the request by the revenue authority to get unrestricted access to taxpayers’ data.
The MPs cited privacy concerns and constitutional safeguards for declining the request submitted by the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA).
It could be recalled that the 2024 Finance Law which proposed a tax hike amid economic challenges, led to deadly demonstrations in which over 60 persons died in confrontation with security forces.
The government, under pressure to avoid a repeat of the incident had abandoned plans to raise 346 billion shillings through tax.
Lawmakers, through a voice vote approved this year’s law, clearing the way for President Ruto to sign and approve it for implementation.
The parliamentary committee on finance rejected on Monday a proposal that would have granted KRA access to the data.
The provision included in this year’s finance bill had drawn a public backlash over alleged privacy violations.
The committee said existing laws allowed KRA to access financial data with a court warrant, rendering the proposal unnecessary.
Finance Minister John Mbadi last week presented to parliament a 4.29 trillion-shilling ($33 billion) budget for the 2025/26 (July-June) fiscal year.
This year’s finance law aims to raise an extra 30 billion shillings ($233 million), mainly through boosting tax compliance.
