Infotrak poll shows 83% of Kenyans oppose Finance Bill 2024 proposals

More than two-thirds of Kenyans are opposed to the Finance Bill 2024 which contains the government’s taxation plan for the next financial year which commences in July 2024. 

A survey by research firm Infotrak shows that a majority of Kenyans remain pessimistic about the impact of the bill on the current state of the economy with only 13 in a hundred saying they believe the bill carries good fortunes.

 A majority of those polled say that the country is headed in the wrong direction, with key concerns being the high cost of living, punitive taxes and unemployment even as the National Assembly Finance Committee continues to gather public views on the Finance Bill 2024.

The Infotrak report has shown that 77% of Kenyans believe that the bill will have no impact on the current state of the economy with only 13% feeling that it carries good fortunes for the country. 

“Nearly 8 out of 10 say that whether it is passed zero impact so that should ring an alarm bell to our financial infrastructure that in as much as we pass these bills and there are acrimonies in passing them the Wanjiku do not feel that they really have a lot of impacts,” said Infotrack Research Manager Johvine Wanyingo.

About 54% of the 1700 Kenyans who took part in the survey conducted between 23rd May to 29th May 2024 had general awareness about the Finance Bill 2024 but had reservations with some of its key proposals.

Among the contentious issues include the imposition of 16% VAT on basic commodities like bread which was rejected by 87% of those interviewed, VAT on financial transactions was also rejected by 87% of Kenyans, 81% rejected the motor vehicle tax, while 83% opposed the proposal to disclose personal data by data controllers and processors for taxation purposes.

“Of those who consume bread 87% reject the VAT on bread and on financial transactions only 4% support it rejected by 86%,” Wanyingo added.

The poll further shows that a majority of Kenyans 63% feel the country is headed in the wrong direction indicating no significant improvement from the findings of the last 3 surveys.

“If you check it across the regions it is more or less the same you can see for wrong direction save for Northeastern which had a bit of a lower score of 47 the rest of the regions are scoring above 50% tells a lot that there is a bit of disquiet across the country,” he added.

About 49% of Kenyans are concerned about the high cost of living followed by unemployment at 30%, infrastructure at 22%, cost of doing business and access to healthcare services at 19% as well as corruption and insecurity remain key challenges that the public want urgently addressed

“High cost of living is tied to taxation because when you have high taxes imposed by the government on the various services and products then people struggle to make ends meet,” stated Wanyingo.


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