Meru County will plough back taxes to develop source municipalities in its latest bid to boost development and improve revenue collection, Governor Kiraitu Murungi has said.
Mr Kiraitu said the move would devolve funds further to the village level, with his administration ensuring that money collected from markets and other businesses would be spent in those areas.
“We have introduced a kitty where we are giving each ward Sh20 million per year for development. Further, we will ensure that money collected from each of the towns is taken back to that urban centre to ensure that residents get good services,” the governor said at Maua at the weekend.
The shift does not however mean that the county will spend revenue at source, a practice that is outlawed and largely blamed for the underwhelming tax collection by the devolved units.
Meru plans to plough back the money once it receives its allocation from the National Treasury.
Besides Meru town, other major urban centres in the county are Nkubu, Maua, Timau, Laare and Mikinduri while there are several other shopping centres. Mr Murungi said this would also offer incentive on tax collection in a bid to boost resource mobilisation across the devolved unit.
To boost accountability, the governor said each town would be manned by a board elected by the residents, with representatives from all members of the community.
“We want people to manage their own projects and resources because this is what devolution is all about. You are the ones to come up with projects you want done and their priority. The boards will be accountable to the people and should anybody be found to be unfit, you are the ones to remove them,” the governor said.
PAYE Tax Calculator
Note: The results are not exact but very close to the actual.
