{"id":142615,"date":"2026-05-30T10:02:45","date_gmt":"2026-05-30T10:02:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/mitumba-traders-push-for-5-import-tax-in-finance-bill\/"},"modified":"2026-05-30T10:02:45","modified_gmt":"2026-05-30T10:02:45","slug":"mitumba-traders-push-for-5-import-tax-in-finance-bill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/mitumba-traders-push-for-5-import-tax-in-finance-bill\/","title":{"rendered":"Mitumba traders push for 5% import tax in Finance Bill"},"content":{"rendered":"

NAIROBI, Kenya May 30 \u2013 Mitumba traders have proposed replacing the current tax system with a simplified 5 percent final tax at importation to ease compliance and reduce business costs.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The National Assembly Finance Committee Chairman Committee Chairperson Kuria Kimani says, the traders were among stakeholders who made presentations during the just concluded public hearings.<\/p>\n

Kimani claims that the Mitumba Traders argued that the proposal will maintain the affordability of second-hand clothes.<\/p>\n

In the current regime, second hand clothes attracts 16 percent VA T and 60 percent Corporation Tax and then the traders also have to pay tax at 30 percent. The National Treasury is currently proposing for Mitumba to be exempt if the Finance Bill becomes law.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut what they\u2019re saying is that what will cushion them from KRA going to do audits on them is to have a five percent income tax rate that is final tax on imported. So at the point of entry they want to just pay five percent and that becomes a final tax rather than paying what they are paying now,\u201d Kimani explained.<\/p>\n

National Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi was forced to withdraw the 5pc proposal following blacklash from sections of traders and consumers who fear it could drive up the cost of second-hand clothing, which remains the main source of affordable apparel for millions of Kenyans.<\/p>\n

Speaking during a briefing on May 12, Mbadi said leaders from Gikomba Market approached the Treasury seeking a simpler and more predictable tax structure for mitumba imports.<\/p>\n

The Finance Bill proposes a deemed profit taxation model under which five per cent of the customs value of imported mitumba goods would automatically be treated as taxable income payable at the point of importation.<\/p>\n

However, Mbadi defended the proposal, arguing that it seeks to replace multiple customs-related taxes with a single payment at entry point.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe idea was that instead of having many different taxes, there should be one single tax paid at the point of entry,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The Finance Committee also clarified that rental income tax will remain unchanged at 7.5 percent, dismissing claims of an increase.<\/p>\n

Kimani also noted ongoing debates in the telecommunications sector, where current proposals could make imported mobile phones more competitive than locally assembled devices.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been able to demonstrate that the current taxation scheme as proposed in the Bill is actually a better rate for imported cell phones.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHowever, we were able to hear from the local manufacturers of phones that there is need to enhance the bill more so that we incentivize the local manufacturers\u2026so that we don\u2019t have more taxation on locally assembled phones and less taxation on imported phones,\u201d he added.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NAIROBI, Kenya May 30 \u2013 Mitumba traders have proposed replacing the current tax system with a simplified 5 percent final tax at importation to ease compliance and reduce business costs. The National Assembly Finance Committee Chairman Committee Chairperson Kuria Kimani says, the traders were among stakeholders who made presentations during the just concluded public hearings. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-142615","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142615","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=142615"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142615\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=142615"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=142615"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=142615"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}