100,000 jobs likely to be lost should the Finance Bill be passed

Kenyan Association of Manufacturers is

tonight warning that the country stands

to lose up to 150 billion Shillings as a

result of mass exodus by both foreign

and local investors should the

controversial finance bill 2023 be

passed into law

is our very own Seth a lot of reports

the Kenya private sector Alliance is

also warning that up to 100 000 jobs

will be lost or into the implications

emanating from the proposed Bill Cam and

capsa were among stakeholders who

expressed their concerns before the

National Assembly committee on finance

which is gathering public information

from members of the public and the

private sector take a listen

opposed finance bill 2023 which is at

the public participation stage came

under skating objection from members of

the private sector who expressed their

concerns before the National Assembly

finance committee all of us here are

from private sector the Kenya

Association of Manufacturers telling the

Parliamentary Watchdog that the country

is on the brink of losing up to 150

billion Shillings through an impending

Mass Exodus from the Canaan Market due

to what they term will be double

taxation if the finance bill 2023

becomes low so as much as we want to

protect local manufacturing doing this

before we are ready is just handing over

the market to other people Egyptians

tanzanians ugandans

in Chinese of course

so clearly if this Levy is imposed on

clinker

the price of cement will shoot up

and the same will be passed over to the

consumers

the Common Man

in the cement industry

70 percent of our customers people who

buy cement are not the big guys who are

doing infrastructure projects

they are not the big these people who

are building up high-rise buildings but

it is the common 100

the one Chico who buys one or two bags

in The Villages our biggest Market is

not just in Nairobi but all over the

country those people want to improve

their houses those people want to flow

uh their houses

convert their houses into semi-permanent

these are the people that are going to

be affected seriously by this new Levy

this will create a very uncertain or

environment for business it will defeat

the attractiveness of Kenya as an

investment destination

how would someone go into a market where

you are really not sure how tax disputes

will be handled where you have to pay 20

whether you dispute those taxes before

they are even looked at by an

independent body you have to put to the

table 20 percent of those taxes how this

is going to impact immediately and it

has started already

because when when people were doing

packaging and exporting this service

it's a signaling they have started

making their orders from elsewhere this

is a bill will death

it will disappear overnight

so please

gentlemen ladies I implore you

do not do what you're about to do which

is sign off on this bill it will kill

the packaging industry and it won't

happen slowly this one will happen

overnight the Kenya private sector

Alliance warning that up to 100 000 jobs

will be lost as a result of business

closure due to high taxation the

petroleum Outlets Association of Kenya

lamenting two members of the finance

committee how the margins will be eroded

by an additional 17 percent additional

on petroleum products we are still being

cited or rather being taxed with

withholding tax and it has become a very

serious issue so what we are asking is

if the commission or whether this

department could

allow the the commissioner the powers to

exempt the industry whereby being in a

in an industry that the margins are

really thin the amount withholding is

more than what we are supposed to gather

the National Assembly departmental

committee will on Thursday get

submissions from coopette Trade union

associations and Kenya Ireland pilot

Association as the public participation

stage into the bill enters day four Seth

olalale Citizen TV Nairobi