You will now pay more for your favourite alcoholic drink, packet of cigarettes and betting stake.
Treasury Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich went hard on revellers and gamblers in his 2019-20 Budget, by further adding ‘sin tax’, slapping excise duty for alcohol and cigarettes by 15 per cent in new government tax measures.
CS Rotich further proposed a 10 per cent excise duty on every amount staked to ostensibly help generate an additional Sh37.0 billion in tax revenue.
“Mr. Speaker, excise duties on alcohol and tobacco will be increased as follows: a 750ml bottle of wine will have an excise duty of Ksh.136 which is Ksh.18 more from the current rate; the duty of a bottle of whiskey will go up by Ksh.24 to Ksh.182 for a 750ml bottle. The excise duty on a packet of 20 cigarettes will increase by Ksh.8 to Ksh.61 per packet,” said CS Rotich.
The tax policy measures in this budget are expected to generate an additional Sh37.0 billion, in tax revenue to the Exchequer.
“Mr Speaker, betting has become widespread in our society and its expansion has had negative social effects, particularly to the young and vulnerable members of our society,” Rotich said on Thursday.
“In order to curtail the negative effects arising from betting activities, I propose to introduce excise duty on betting activities at the rate of 10 per cent of the amount staked.”
This follows change of the law last year that allows the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) Commissioner-General to adjust the specific rate of excise duty every year taking into account inflation.
