| Updated Sun, May 7th 2017 at 00:00 GMT +3The National Treasury has moved to restrain governors from introducing taxes or waiving levies before seeking approval from the Cabinet secretary. This has been done after the ministry on Thursday published a new Bill that prohibits the county bosses from instituting taxation measures without Treasury’s approval at least 10 months before. The Bill, phrased as the County Governments Tax Regulations Process Bill 2016, requires the county executive for finance, within 10 months after the commencement of the financial year, to submit tax proposals to the Cabinet Secretary for National Treasury for approval, setting out the reasons for the imposition of the tax, fee, levy or charge. It also requires compliance with Article 209(5) of the Constitution and where appropriate, describe the persons liable for the tax, fee, levy or charge and any relief measures or exemptions. Mr Kamanjira said if adopted into law, the Bill will set up an entirely new platform where the National Government can challenge tax decisions made by counties, even if governors are empowered by the Constitution to introduce their own taxes.

Source: Standard Digital May 06, 2017 18:22 UTC