KRA issues tax warning to MPs

The Kenya Revenue Authority has said it fully expects Parliament to remit the taxes of MPs backdated to September 2010.

Further, KRA said it will move to auction the assets of the legislators if the National Assembly fails to comply with the requirement.

"We will be guided by the law and if the employer fails to remit taxes we will attach their assets. But we hope it won't go that far," said KRA Commissioner of Domestic Taxes John Njiraini Wednesday.

Also affected by the taxation measures are 11 Constitutional offices including the Attorney General, Auditor General, Judges and Constitutional Commissions.

"In the case of MPs, demands relate to a host of allowances including responsibility, constituency, extraneous, entertainment, sitting, mileage, motor vehicle fixed cost (Sh336,000) and motor vehicle purchase (Sh3.3million), among others," said Mr Njiraini.

Under the new law, all State officers are obligated to pay tax.

The relevant Article 210 (3) says: No law may exclude or authorise the exclusion of a State officer from payment of tax by reason of

(a) the office held by that State officer; or

(b) the nature of the work of the State officer.

MPs take home Sh851,000 a month, of which only 200,000 is taxed. The rest is in the form of fixed but untaxed allowances.

Recently KRA Commissioner General Michael Waweru told the Parliamentary committee looking into the high cost of living that if MPs agreed to pay tax, the country would net Sh1 billion that would go a long way in shouldering some of the subsidies Government is offering.

“If you pay tax, you’ll gain the moral authority to talk about tax, to use that tax and to even determine how that tax is used... No one should be exempted from paying tax,” Mr Waweru told the team chaired by Budalang’i MP Ababu Namwamba.