Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi has defended key proposals in the Finance Bill, including tax amnesty, digitisation of tax collection systems and efforts to widen the tax base, during a televised media engagement held at the University of Nairobi.
The session brought together students and stakeholders for an interactive discussion on the Bill, with learners posing questions on tax enforcement, fairness and the effectiveness of past fiscal reforms.
A key highlight of the engagement was Mbadi’s detailed explanation of the government’s proposed tax amnesty programme, which he said is designed to ease compliance burdens while boosting revenue collection.
“The tax amnesty is likely to give us an additional Ksh 30 billion,” he said.
Mbadi explained that the amnesty targets taxpayers whose cases have already been determined, particularly those that had been pending at the tax tribunal and resolved in favour of the government.
“Why are we giving tax amnesty? There are so many cases that were pending at the tribunal which have been determined and so in our favour… we give them this amnesty, they will not pay interest and penalties on the taxes that have been determined, they will just pay the principal sum.”
He added that the measure is intended to support taxpayers facing liquidity challenges while also ensuring the government recovers outstanding revenues.
Beyond the amnesty, Mbadi emphasised that the broader objective of the Finance Bill is to widen the tax base and improve compliance, noting that enforcement has historically faced challenges.
He pointed to inefficiencies in Kenya’s tax administration system, saying that while economic activity has increasingly shifted to digital platforms, tax collection methods remain largely manual.
“We have also not been very efficient in applying the technology in tax collection… we are still too manual and mechanical in collecting our taxes. We are moving away from that.”
To address this, he said the National Treasury is supporting the Kenya Revenue Authority to enhance digitisation and strengthen systems.
