President William Ruto was on the receiving end from different quarters on Friday over his remarks on the country's GDP, sentiments he made earlier in the day at Kenya Revenue Authority Headquarters.
This is after the president who was speaking after filing his tax returns claims that the country is lagging behind compared to its peers as far as collecting taxes is concerned.
In his remarks, Ruto alleged that the KRA collects only 15 per cent of the country's GDP, while other countries led by South Africa collects at least 22 per cent.
"We collect 15% of our GDP, but our peers like South Africa collect 22-28% of GDP. KRA should question why we only collect 15% when SA gets 22-25%. KRA has remained lackluster in its performance."
This has not say well with Former Mandera Senator and who served as the Finance and Budget Committee chair between 2013 and 2017 Billow Kerrow, saying that the president was misleading Kenyans, since KRA has been collecting almost 30 per cent.
"This argument is misleading in many ways. Before Uhuru re-based our GDP by 30% between 2014-2021 to make us look rich, our tax to GDP ratio was 19%. In mid-1990s, the ratio was 29%. In 2001-2002, tax collected was 21.6% of our GDP. GoK ought to use data in their records."
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