Kenya’s national budget to increase gambling taxes
As the annual reading of the national budget gets closer, several experts advised MPs to increase gambling tax rates in Kenya.
Kenya.- Treasury Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich is set to read on March 30 Kenya’s national budget. The Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO) has advised the official to increase tax rates on gambling in order to obtain bigger revenues.
The PBO is conformed by a group of tax experts and fiscal analysts who advise the MPs on different subjects, and this time they affirmed that whiles the gambling industry has a lot of money, it only has tax rates between 12 and 20 percent. According to news outlet Standard Media, the budget office wants to dramatically increase these taxes: they asked Rotich to be aggressive in collecting taxes. The PBO released a report that is set to guide MPs: “In recent times, the gambling industry has experienced unrivaled growth, exponentially so, and the sustenance of this trajectory is expected. Therefore, tapping the unexploited tax potential from the multi-billion shilling betting, lotteries and gaming industry is long overdue.”
The possible rise in gambling and lottery taxes has gathered concerns among Kenyan betting industry and sports stakeholders as they could have a negative impact in business conditions and hamper tax revenues crucial to the nation’s sports and social development programs. Nevertheless, the group of economists believe that higher rates will double the money that the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) obtains from the gambling industry.
According to the report, the industry is estimated to have a potential gross turnover of US$1.9 billion every year and it could grow exponentially in the next few years years. “Taxation of this industry should be in the class of other sin taxes in design and rigor of collection,” it added. The modification of Kenya’s gambling laws has been a main issue for the National Assembly as it seeks to improve consumer provisions and protections while sports betting’s popularity keeps growing.
