Bar and restaurant owners in Murang’a county have rejected the proposed increase of excise duty by the taxman as a measure by the new regime to stabilize the country’s economy.
The businessmen and women expressed their fears that if implemented, President William Ruto’s proposal will lead to a 6.3% increase in exercise duty on alcoholic drinks which in turn will ruin hundreds of small businesses across the county.
Under their Bar, Hotels and Liquor Traders Association (BAHLITA), the traders, led by their chairperson Samuel Njoroge instead have asked Members of Parliament to take pay cuts as an austerity measure to compensate for the deficit in the economy.
BAHLITA is also asking President Wiliam Ruto to spare job losses and explore other ways to raise revenue, noting that neighboring countries have not raised taxes on alcoholic drinks yet their economies were not at par with Kenya’s.
