And even though all the above are extremely poor choices for this industry, the worst is that The Bill is shifting towards taxing digital infrastructure like payments and platforms, software and devices which is what the economy relies on.
It's a headshot.
Next is the shortening of the filing deadlines. Majority of this industry runs on irregular cash flows and informal book keeping. This shortening will create chaos and will by default push the majority of the industry towards non compliance.
Then the big one. 25% excise duty on Mobile phones.
Phones are on the inputs side of this business and also in distribution and in consumption. So this will heavily and negatively impact the industry. There is no progressive policy position for something like this.
Next is the proposed expansion of the definition of "management fees" to include interchange fees and merchant services.
This will directly impact event ticket prices for both the organizers as well as event goers in order to cover the extra tax.
This is a tax on infra.
The impact of this on software licenses and subscriptions say for stock photos, video, Da Vinci etc is that such things will cost more in Kenya than they do in the region. That makes Kenyan creators less competitive.
Why is this necessary?
Next let's talk Tax.
The Bill is proposing an expansion to the definition of "royalty" (also for the 3rd year running). This means that more categories of payments now subject to WHT.
Just to add that the Creative Industry in Kenya is contributing about 5-9% of GDP. For context Tourism is 3-4% and Manufacturing is between 7-8%.
And they wrote ZERO incentives into this bill FOR THE THIRD CONSECUTIVE YEAR.
The first and most important issue is that this bill contains ZERO incentives for the industry. Zero. Nothing at all. Which means that the administration only sees the industry as a taxpayer and not a strategic economic sector. This is a very big oversight. Usitakejua
Content creator & livestreamer Vindee recently asked his followers to contribute KSh 10 million to buy 50,000 tree seedlings for a nationwide planting exercise across all 47 counties. Things took an unexpected turn when one follower stood up and said he'll donate all 50,000 seedlings for free.
But Vindee responded like a procurement officer whose tender had just been interrupted. He insisted the contributions must continue because he knows a guy who sells very high-quality seedlings.
At this point, Kenyans are confused. If the seedlings have already been donated, what exactly are we raising KSh 10 million for? The donor came with trees, but Vindee came with contacts. One is trying to save the environment, while the other is trying to save a supplier.
The trees haven't even been planted yet, and already the project is experiencing what appears to be a fully-fledged procurement dispute. Kijana anajua kile kilimleta Kanairo. It's called games of urban areas. Chesaa!!
Arsenal fans are crying over my prophecy about them losing the league title this Sunday.
You people will respect me on this app this Sunday when Arsenal lost to crystal palace.
Till then, keep crying 😭
Arsenal have been carried by referee controversies all season. But in football, it’s better to fall with integrity than rise through favors because real glory is earned, not gifted.
That title doesn’t count in my books!