Following protests by activists and civil society in front of parliament in Nairobi, the Ruto government has withdrawn some of the tax and excise proposals contained in the Finance Bill 2024 that will go to the National Assembly for approval today.
As Citizen Tv reports, the announcement of the removal of the taxes was made after a meeting of allied MPs from the ruling coalition, in the presence of President William Ruto, at State House in Nairobi.
These are the main taxes withdrawn from the original bill:
The proposed 16% excise tax on bread, the excise tax on vegetable oil, the increase on mobile phone transfer service transactions, the so-called 'eco-tax' on non-recyclable products, such as nappies and sanitary napkins. Only imported ones will be taxed, and not those produced locally.
The same will apply to commodities such as eggs, onions and potatoes.
The threshold for compulsory registration with the V.A.T. is also increased to favour small and medium-sized enterprises. It will rise from 5 million to 8 million. Small businesses with a turnover of less than 1 million shillings per year will be exempt from registering with the eTIMS portal with mandatory e-invoices. 
The parliamentary budget committee also decided that the motor vehicle tax cannot be changed through the Income Tax Act. The imposition of the tax on insurance would have damaged the insurance sector and therefore the proposal was dropped.