In an effort to ease mounting public anger over high taxes and the soaring cost of living, President William Ruto’s administration has announced a sweeping exemption that removes 1.5 million low-income earners from the pay-as-you-earn (PAYE) tax bracket altogether.
However, even as the President touts the move as a fresh dawn for struggling Kenyans, the Kenya Bankers Association (KBA) has urged caution. The group argues that selectively zero-rating low earners will do little to jump-start a sluggish economy, instead calling for broad-based tax cuts that benefit all workers.
Political analysts, meanwhile, view the tax relief as a calculated political gambit aimed at winning back an electorate disillusioned by the harsh fiscal measures introduced by the same administration at the start of its term.
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