Good News To Taxpayers As PSC Calls For Review of Taxes
Public Service Commission (PSC) has called for a review of the current taxes and Levies for civil servants.
This comes after increased cost of living as the prices of essential Commodities go through the roof.
While speaking before the National Dialogue Committee (NADCO), PSC Chair said reviews of taxes, Levies or salary of employees citing the cost of living that has seen prices of basic commodities go through the roof.
This, according to PSC Chair Mr. Muchiri, has led to low morale and subpar performance inside the public service.
According to data collected by the State Department of Public Service, 12,532 public officials sought psychosocial support in the fiscal year 2022–2023 as opposed to 6,616 in the fiscal year 2018–2019, the PSC boss informed the committee. This is an 84% increase from the previous figure.
The PSC chair claims that the majority of civil servants are paying off mortgages through the civil servants’ housing scheme or other private programs, which has an impact on their quality of life and discretionary income.
The commission suggests either a revision of the taxation system, wage increases, or the exemption of levies for workers serving comparable roles to cushion the workers and improve performance.
PSC also suggests deducting the housing levy from the base salary rather than the gross income and staggered introduction of the 1.5% housing levy.
In order to lower the price of fuel, which has a knock-on effect on the cost of living, the commission also suggests that the Value Added Tax (VAT) on petroleum goods be reviewed.
PSC received an invitation to appear before the committee for oral presentations on the five issues on the agenda that make up the bipartisan discussions team’s terms of reference.
The PSC chair stated that the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) should be reorganized in a way that increases its effectiveness, efficiency, and credibility.
According to PSC, it is important to protect the reorganization of the IEBC as an independent commission from interference and influence from political party interests.
NADCO, which is co-chaired by Kalonzo Musyoka, a co-principal in the Azimio la Umoja – One Kenya coalition, and Kimani Ichung’wah, the majority leader of the National Assembly, began accepting public submissions on September 22 after receiving memoranda from various groups outlining proposals they wanted to be taken into consideration during the negotiations to end the standoff between the Kenya Kwanza administration and the opposition.
