Ruto pledges wealth tax on tycoons to fix Kenya's budget

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Kenyan President William Ruto has revived a proposal to impose higher taxes on Kenya’s super-rich and high-income earners, endorsing the introduction of a wealth tax that failed to sail through Parliament over the past four years.

The idea is the latest in a long list of efforts to raise taxes on the super-rich as the new administration seeks to cut reliance on loans to fund the national budget amid the burgeoning public debt.

The President told Parliament in his inaugural speech on the floor of the House on Thursday that his administration will seek to raise taxes from the wealth accumulated by the richest Kenyans over getting revenues from workers and traders.

This sort of tax would be based on a person’s net worth after deducting their liabilities and would only apply to the richest citizens.

Different from many other kinds of taxes such as income tax, people with sufficient networth would owe wealth taxes even if they failed to take any action, like earning income or selling assets.

It would apply to all property such as real estate, cash, investments, business ownership and other assets, less any debts, and investors would owe the tax each year based on the market value of the assets.

Source: theeastafrican.co.ke