The National Assembly has invited the public and stakeholders to express their views on the Public Finance Bill 2022.
This bill seeks to remove maize flour, cassava flour, wheat flour and meslin flour from the list of tax-exempt goods.
The Bill, if passed will see these goods subjected to Value Added Tax at 16 percent, increasing food prices and in turn increase the cost of living.
In a notice, clerk Michael Sialai says the memoranda should be submitted to Parliament buildings before 4th of May.
The finance bill which was published on 8th of April also seeks to increase excise duty on goods such as bottled water and non-alcoholic beverages, by 9.5 per cent to 6.6 shillings per liter.
“The memoranda may be addressed to the Clerk of the National Assembly, P.O. Box 41842-00100, Nairobi; hand-delivered to the Office of the Clerk, Main Parliament Buildings, Nairobi; or emailed to clerk@parliament.go.ke;to be received on or before Wednesday, 4th May 2022 at 5.00 p.m,” part of the notice read.
Additionally, the Bill was published on April 8, went through the First reading on April 12 and thereafter submitted to the Departmental Committee on Finance and National Planning for consideration.
Moreover, the bill seeks to impose a 9.3 per cent excise duty on fruit and vegetable juices to Sh13.3 per litre (from Sh12.2).
The bill further proposes to increase excise duty on items like cosmetic and beauty products, powdered beer and spirits.