The Finance Act 2023 has brought to bare the dicey relationship between taxpayers and the government. The government has proposed a raft of tax measures that seek to increase the amount of taxation meted including the housing levy, additional tax band on income earned and doubling of VAT on petroleum products among others. These have left a bitter taste in the mouth of taxpayers with ongoing frustrations leading to a wave of mass protests.

Preamble The Commissioner General (CG) of the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) has published Legal Notice No. 194 prescribing new specific rates of excise duty for various excisable products. The publication of the Legal Notice by the CG is in accordance with the provision of Section 10 of the Excise Duty Act, 2015 which gives the CG powers to adjust the specific rates of excise duty taking into account inflation. The CG has adjusted upwards the excise duty rates of certain specific products to ta…