Parliament Buildings. The parliamentary committee on the Budget is seeking Sh30 billion as stimulus package to cushion the poor from the ravages caused by rising inflation and the weakening shilling.. File
The parliamentary committee on the Budget is seeking Sh30 billion as stimulus package to cushion the poor from the ravages caused by rising inflation and the weakening shilling.
The committee chairman, Mr Elias Mbau, said part of the money could be raised through a ban on non-essential travel by public officers overseas.
Poor become poorer
“My committee’s plea, then, is simple: Put the poor and vulnerable first as you consider how to spend limited resources. The national budget must not make the poor, poorer,” he said.
Mr Mbau said the stimulus package will support energy, agriculture and social welfare.
The shilling is the worst performing emerging currency this year with a 25 per cent drop in value against the dollar.
Food inflation is at 24.4 per cent while that for transport is up 24.8 per cent leaving the poor exposed to hunger.
Tax rich more
“At a time like this, it is imprudent to allocate money to areas with no corresponding output. It has reached a point where money leaving the exchequer should go directly to programmes that have an immediate impact on the people,” Mr Mbau said.
He blamed Kenya’s economic managers at the Treasury and the Central Bank for failing to factor in global economic crisis in their short to medium term strategies to stabilise the economy.
He said the Government needed to tax the rich more and economic sectors with high margins more and put restrictions on imports that do not add to the country’s productive capacity.
“Such taxation approach will serve to bridge the ever widening gap between the have and the have nots,” he said, adding that economic growth benefits were yet to trickle down to the lower echelons of society.
PAYE Tax Calculator
Note: The results are not exact but very close to the actual.
