Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) is set to increase the number of taxpayers from 3.94 million to 7 million to meet the readjusted annual tax which it has increased from the current 4.5 trillion to 6.1 trillion shillings by 2020/21 financial year.
The authority is banking on public trust, mining telephony data, and skills of its staff to increase the number of individuals paying taxes.
“The amount of money transferred through mobile phones for the past three years is more than half the money generated by the economy in goods and services,” KRA Commissioner General John Njiraini said during the official launch of the agency’s Seventh Corporate Plan that runs from 2018 to 2021.
According to Njiraini the sixth edition of the Corporate Plan was centered on trade facilitation, advanced technology implementation, the automation of government processes, enhanced border security, regional integration, and integrity of its staff.
The Seventh Corporate Plan focuses on prioritizing key national flagship drivers that promises an independent and a transformed country by 2021.
“Those drivers include the Vision 2030, the Big 4 agenda and the 2018 Budget policy statement,” Njiraini said.
The National Treasury CS, Henry Rotich, however, challenged KRA’s decision to increase tax compliance by netting more taxpayers claiming that the Sixth Corporate Plan had created the foundation yet the collection targets were not achieved.
On his part, Njiraini stated that the authority’s approach to engaging with the public has been more about enforcement but has of late shifted to the approach normally associated with the private sector.
According to Rotich, enough efforts have been put into developing the Seventh Corporate Plan, which is projected to support and facilitate the success of the government’s Big 4 Agenda.
He said that the Treasury will work with KRA and all stakeholders to continuously develop appropriate policies and review of the regulatory regimes to meet the needs of all Kenyans.