The National Treasury CS says that he will be proposing to the National Assembly to repeal the reintroduction of the excise duty on betting within the next six months.
On June 30, President Kenyatta assented the Finance Bill 2020 that saw the scrapping of the 20 percent excise duty of betting wins. This in return meant that the Kenyan betting sector would be lucrative and attract local players such as Sportpesa which closed shop in 2019 blaming the high taxation.
In a statement, Kenya’s Treasury Cabinet Secretary Ukur Yatani says that the removal of the excise tax on happened during the committee stage of the bill. He says that this goes against the government’s commitment on mitigating the social vices associated with betting activities.
The government in 2018 introduced betting tax at the rate of 15 percent on betting companies and 20 percent withholding tax on winnings. Further, in 2019 the government introduced excise duty on betting at the rate of 20 percent of the amount stocked.
The new tax measures seem to have been a bane for the betting industry as several local players closed shop. The players have been petitioning the government to review and reduce the taxation in the industry with little success.
The finance bill 2020 was a glimmer of hope as they argued Kenyans still placed bets with international gaming firms that were not subject to Kenya’s taxation law.
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