President Ruto goes for Kenyatta, Moi families for not paying tax since independence

 

President William Ruto in Mombasa. | PSCU|

Did you realize there is a law that exempts the Kenyatta and Moi families from taxation on the hereditary property? The Moi and Kenyatta families have yet to pay property taxes since acquiring their properties several decades ago.

On Monday, January 30, there was a discussion that took place online about the reasons why former Presidents Jomo Kenyatta and Daniel Moi got a bill passed that exempted them from paying any inheritance tax.

According to the Estate Duty Act, Cap. 483 of 1963, if any person passes away after the start of this Act, a tax that is known as estate duty must, except as is below provided for, be collected and paid on;

(a) all property of which the deceased was, at the time of his death, competent to dispose of;

(b) all property in which the deceased or any other person had an interest ceases to exist upon the deceased's death;

However, under Section 7(3), it states that:

This section shall not apply to His Excellency Mzee Jomo Kenyatta or to His Excellency Daniel Toroitich Arap Moi.

Lawyer Apollo Mboya said something that showed that the people can't be forced to pay the tax in the way asked.

"It will be a difficult request to make because what if the estate has been passed to other parties, changed ownership, or delineated over a while?" He took a breather.

Mboya went on to say that the gazette notice needed to be cancelled for the families to be obligated to pay taxes on the estates.

"If they force themselves on the family, they will be acting in hindsight." They will need to file an appeal to have the notice revoked; once that is done, the families will begin making payments beginning with the period in which the gazette notice was revoked.

Mboya said that this was just a case of politics, and he suggested that the government focus on the reports that the Office of the Director of Prosecution had put together about people who had avoided paying taxes.

In the same way, lawyer Charles Kanjama said that "any tax exemptions that have been gazetted under the Income Tax, VAT, or Customs can be easily revoked by the Cabinet Secretary if they are no longer acceptable."

Recently, people all around the nation have been debating the issue of those who avoid paying their fair share of taxes.

On Monday, January 30, President William Ruto said that Raila Odinga and the other leaders of the opposition group Azimio were planning protests to avoid paying taxes.

The President sent a signal to the opponents, led by Odinga, that indicated that no level of pushback, including the organization of protests, would alter his position on the directive. This message was sent directly to the opposition.

"I want to guarantee them that even if they finance protests so that they don't have to pay taxes, they will still have to pay taxes." "There is no longer an exemption to this rule," confirmed President Ruto.