During an interview with NTV, the former Interior Cabinet Secretary said scrapping the levy would add disposable income in the pockets of Kenyans, offering much-needed relief.
“Quite frankly, in my view, we should scrap this housing levy because it is very burdensome when you look at it,” he stated.
Matiang’i further proposed raising the threshold for tax-free income to KSh35,000 to ease the burden on low- and middle-income earners. He said putting more money in workers’ pockets could boost household spending and help the economy recover.
“There is a need to increase disposable income in the pockets of our people by, for example, raising the ceiling to non-taxable income to even KSh35,000, so that slowly we can begin to have some recovery,” Matiang’i said.
He also cited public spending, excessive bureaucracy, and corruption as major challenges, warning that corruption had reached unprecedented levels.
“But the greatest challenge is wastage of resources, bureaucracy, and corruption. Corruption has reached unprecedented levels. Sometimes I feel people have not come to terms with the gravity of our situation,” he said.
Matiang’i said bold, decisive action is needed to tackle the country’s economic challenges, saying the government needed far-reaching reforms in public spending and key sectors.
“There is need to be courageous, radical and decisive to be able to get the country where it is right now,” he said.
He proposed reviewing the national budget to identify spending cuts and direct public funds towards essential services and development priorities.
“That will mean we will have to relook at our budgeting to see whether we can stop the wastage that we have. We then need to work on critical sector reforms, address corruption, security, bureaucracy. These are measures we will need to take urgently,” he added.
Leave a Reply