Kenyan MPs Cut Finance Bill 2025 Revenue Projections to KSh 24b

• Members of Parliament recommended changes to revenue-raising measures proposed in the Finance Bill 2025
• The lawmakers reduced revenue projections in the bill to KSh 24 billion, down from the National Treasury's estimates
• Molo MP Kimani Kuria revealed that the Finance Bill 2025 revenue projections are the lowest compared to other years

Wycliffe Musalia has over six years of experience in financial, business, technology, climate, and health reporting, providing deep insights into Kenyan and global economic trends. He currently works as a business editor at TUKO.co.ke.

The National Assembly Committee on Finance and National Planning has presented its report on the Finance Bill 2025 to parliament.

The report recommended changes to the revenue-raising measures proposed in the bill.

How much will Finance Bill 2025 collect?

Led by Molo MP Kimani Kuria, the committee projected revenue collection from the bill at KSh 24 billion.

This represented a KSh 6 billion drop from the National Treasury's estimates of KSh 30 billion.

Addressing the House on Tuesday, June 17, Kuria revealed that the bill has the least projections in revenue compared to the previous three years ' revenue-raising measures.

He revealed that the government sought to collect KSh 344 billion from the rejected Finance Bill 2024 and later projected KSh 49 billion from the Tax Laws Amendment Act 2024.

"The Finance Act of 2022 had a projected revenue of KSh 22 billion, Finance Act of 2023 (KSh 211 billion), defunct Finance Bill 2024 intended to collect KSh 344 billion, Tax Laws Amendment Act 2024 (KSh 49 billion) but the Finance Bill of 2025 will collect only KSh 24 billion," said Kuria.

The projected revenue is part of the estimated KSh 3.316 trillion ordinary revenue in the fiscal year 2025/26 budget.

Which revenue policies did MPs withdraw?

Kuria and his team recommended the withdrawal of some revenue policy measures in the bill, leading to a drop in tax estimates.

The proposals dismissed by the lawmakers include the elimination of the 15% corporate tax rate, reclassification of goods from zero-rated to tax-exempt, a proposal to limit carryforward of business losses to five years and the proposal to grant KRA sweeping access to personal data.

The committee urged members of parliament to pass the Finance Bill 2025 proposals with the recommended changes.

What are the 2025/26 budget estimates?

Treasury Cabinet Secretary (CS) John Mbadi presented the KSh 4.29 trillion budget to parliament on Thursday, June 12.

The budget for the financial year starting July 1, 2025, was revised from KSh 4.239 trillion after MPs voted an increase in recurrent expenditure.

National Assembly Budget and Appropriation Committee, led by Alego Usonga MP Samuel Atandi, increased the total government expenditure by KSh 33 billion to KSh 2.54 trillion, up from KSh 2.5 trillion.

This saw recurrent expenditure, which covers government salaries, wages, pensions, operational expenses like utilities, and maintenance costs, raised to KSh 1.81 trillion.

The lawmakers increased development expenditure from KSh 708.8 billion to KSh 721.7 billion.

Proofreading by Asher Omondi, copy editor at TUKO.co.ke.

Source: TUKO.co.ke