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What tax collections say about Ruto's management of economy so far

President William Ruto. [Standard]

In a roundabout way, one of this Kenya Kwanza administration's greater successes has been to upgrade conversations about taxation among Kenyans. Today, our media points us to the idea that anything that looks, walks and talks like a tax is a tax. On the flip side, tone-deaf officials point out that borrowing as an alternative is a future tax, a burden shift to future generations.

What they don't say is we are in the middle of a debt-inspired, not growth-friendly, tax moment.

Let's explore these ideas using two recent press stories. The first told us that Kenya Roads Board (KRB) plans to add Sh5 to the current Road Maintenance Levy (RML) of Sh18, which...