Civil servants set to go on strike over high taxes
Civil servants led by their chair have threatened to call for strike over the high taxes amid the hard economic times.
Tom Odege, Union of Kenya Civil Servants secretary general, said as a union they will call for a strike early next year to push for the reduction of taxes.
According to Odege, civil servants are nolonger living their lives but they are surviving due to current economic situation dlubled with the high taxation. As patriotic Kenyans, serving the country their service delivery has been affected greatly, he added.
More than 70,000 national and county civil servants, together with other workers, have up to 60 per cent of their salaries being taxed by the government, Odege said.
As a result, the desire of the workers tl serve their fellow kenyans is diminished by the heavy taxation, Odege said.
Civil servants set to go on strike over high taxes
As a union we have tried to seek redress with the Kenya Kwanza administration over the same without succeeding and this has forced them to call for a strike next year, he added. We have been pushed to the wall by the prevailing circumstances.
According to Odege, the only language that the government understands well is strike as such they had no other alternative but to call for a strike.
He criticised the government for overtaxing civil servants to bail out the ailing economy, adding that it was not a good idea.
The heavy taxation imposed by the government is killing the middle class and workers, who should have money to make purchases so that money circulates and stabilise the economy.
Most business and employment are failing seriously as workers have no money to spend, with the bulk of it being hoarded by the government in taxes.
The government declared an increase of between 7 and 10 per in civil servants’ salaries over a two-year period in August.
SRC announced the changes through its chairperson Lyn Mengich.
The increase is inclusive of the existing notch increase, which averages 3 per cent annually according to Mengich.
The salary increase was aimed at cushioning all public servants against the sharp rise in the cost of living.
But Odege downplayed the increase as ineffective, saying the addition also translated to double taxes, which deprived workers more.
“Actually what it did is taking those who were not to be taxed and adding them to higher tax brackets, depleting our payslips more,” he said.
He said value-added tax and other taxes on housing and fuel level have made a mockery of the salary increase, which was meant to help workers.
Civil servants set to go on strike over high taxes
