More pain for consumers as prices rise in October
Kenyans will pay more for bottled water, fuel, beer and juice starting October after the taxman raised the rates of excise duty on dozens of commodities in line with the jumping inflation recorded during the past year.
The Kenya Revenue Authority KRA is required by the Excise Duty Act, 2015 to adjust the specific rates of excise duty of a group of select excisable products by taking into account the average inflation rate for the previous financial year.
This will see manufacturers pass on the additional cost of the commodities to end users.
The inflation rate for the financial year 2020/21 averaged 4.97 percent, which the KRA will use to tax the products, an increase from 4.93 percent that was used last year highlighting a rising cost of living for millions of Kenyans.
“Kenya Revenue Authority would, therefore, like to inform manufacturers and importers of excisable goods falling under the specific rate category and members of the public that the commissioner general will adjust the rates of excise duty using the average inflation rate for the Financial Year 2020/2021 of four decimal nine seven per centum (4.97 percent), as determined by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS). The adjusted rates will be effective from 1st October, 2021,” KRA said.
Kerosene
Poor households that use kerosene for lighting and cooking have been dealt a further blow after the KRA raised the rate of excise duty on 1,000 litres of the commodity by Sh565, which will see fuel importers pay Sh11,936 in excise for kerosene, up from Sh11,370.
Meanwhile, the cost of buying a motorcycle will also rise after the KRA raised the price of purchasing of a unit by Sh576 , which will see motorcycle importers pay Sh12,185 in excise up from the current Sh11,608.
Smokers will also choke after the taxman raised the excise duty on tobacco and its substitutes with excise on a unit of cartridges used in e-cigarettes reviewed to Sh2,781 per unit, which is Sh197 more from the current Sh2,649.
The price of fruit and vegetable juices will also increase after excise charged on each litre was raised by Sh1 to Sh12 from Sh11, while excise on bottled water will also increase by the same quantity to Sh6 from Sh5 per litre. BY DAILY NATION
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