File image of Uhuru Kenyatta and Gideon Moi
Former President Uhuru Kenyatta and his family have been on the spot in recent days over evading tax claims.
Nandi Senator Samson Cherargei on Wednesday wrote to the Senate clerk seeking to amend the old statute that exempted former Presidents Jomo Kenyatta and Daniel Moi from paying a special tax on the passing of inheritance to their families.
The Estate Duty tax which has been there since independence has been amended twice during the tenures of the two presidents to remove them from the list of taxation of their estates.
“Whenever any person dies […], a tax known as estate duty shall, […] be levied and paid on all property on which the deceased (person) was at the time of his death competent to dispose.
“An Excise Duty shall be levied on all property in which the deceased or any other person had an interest, ceasing upon the death of the deceased and on all property which immediately before the death was held for the use or enjoyment of two or more persons of whom the deceased was one,” the act previously read.
In 1969 former President Jono Kenyatta signed an amendment to the act adding the provision that the imposition of estate duty:
“shall not apply to His Excellency Mzee Jomo Kenyatta, First President and Commander in Chief of the armed forces of the Republic of Kenya.”
Three years after Moi took over from Kenyatta, he also amended the act by deleting the words “first president and commander in chief of the armed forces of the Republic of Kenya, to read, “the section shall not apply to His Excellency Mzee Jomo Kenyatta nor to His Excellency Daniel Toroitich arap Moi”.
The Nandi Senator now wants the law to exempt people with disabilities, minorities, and the marginalized from paying taxes and not the Kenyatta and Moi families.
Also Read: Inside Samson Cherargei Proposal To Have Moi, Kenyatta Families Paying Estate Duty Taxes
