City Hall plans to charge business permits based on trade volumes

City Hall will start charging business licence fees based on volume of trade in one of the changes mooted by Governor Evans Kidero three years into his tenure.

This is one of the initiatives outlined in the county’s strategic plan 2015-2025 launched by Mr Kidero in Naivasha last week.

County business permits are currently based on the sector, physical size of the business (floor area) or the number of employees.

Under the proposed changes, firms with higher sales will have to pay more for the same licence type compared to their less performing counterparts.

“Graduated business licences will be introduced (in consultation with the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) which will be linked to the volume of trade,” the strategic plan reads.

“This source of revenue will also be automated and monitoring controls strengthened, which will improve collection rates.”

The county did not indicate when the switch to trade volume-based charge will be made.

The shift could see a number of informal businesses start under-reporting their performance to lower their licence liability.

The permit fees for higher education institutions in the city are for example capped at Sh100,000 for those that have above 200 students.