Updated Tue, May 10th 2016 at 00:00 GMT +3The taxman collected Sh14 billion in excise tax on airtime, which provided one of the largest income streams last year. KRA further brought in Sh7.2 billion on the 10 per cent excise tax levied on financial transactions, which was criticised as punitive and detrimental to financial deepening by the sector’s lobby groups. The bulk of the revenue growth came from new tax levies netted from airtime purchases. In a year marked by depressed revenue collections across many Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) tax divisions, mobile phone users proved a welcome source of funds. Data from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) indicates that revenue from excise duty on selected items, including beer, wines and spirits, cigarettes, airtime and financial transactions, nearly doubled from Sh36 billion in 2014 to Sh62 billion last year.

Source: Standard Digital May 09, 2016 15:42 UTC