Budget day: Kenya introduces 15% tax on social media influencers, content creators

The Kenyan Finance Minister Njuguna Ndung'u, yesterday joined his counterparts across the East African region, to table a $25.75 billion budget (the equivalent of UGX 94 Trillion) for the year 2023/24.

One of the contentious tax measures in the budget was the introduction of the new withholding tax for digital content creators and online influencers at 15%.

The tax is part of widely criticized measures that President William Roto’s government have come up with to repair a heavily-indebted economy inherited from his predecessor Uhuru Kenyatta, who ramped up borrowing to fund a splurge on costly infrastructure projects.

Some of the other measures include a 3% tax on the transfer of digital assets such as crypto currencies and an increase in tax on gambling to almost 20 percent of the amount wagered.

During yesterday’s budget presentation, over 10 opposition MPs briefly interrupted the speech when they staged a walk-out from the chambers as the minister started. Calm returned and the speech proceeded.

The Government however, has argued that it needs to broaden the tax base by capturing emerging industries like online work. 

Kenya expects to finance 79.3 percent of the budget through internal revenues, 15.9 percent domestic financing, 1.1 percent external grants, and foreign loans 3.6 percent.