The taxes introduced through the Finance Act 2018 have led to increase of prices of various services and products. Safaricom is the latest company to announce a price increase due to the new taxes imposed by the Finance Act.
The Finance Act increased Excise Duty tax on Calls, SMS and Internet from 10% to 15%. Additionally, a 15% Excise Duty tax on internet services was introduced.
As a result of the taxes, the price for calls and mobile Internet will increase by 30 cents and SMS by 10 cents effective today. The company has also announced that the Fibre-To-The-Building (FTTB) and Fibre-To-The-Home (FTTH) price will also increase.
In July 2018, Safaricom increased M-Pesa charges citing an increase in taxes brought about the Finance Bill 2018. The proposed 15% tax was later dropped to 12% when the bill was passed.
The Law Society of Kenya (LSK) earlier this month sued the AG, Speaker of the National Assembly and the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) over the introduction of the 15% excise duty on internet services. They want the implementation of the new tax stopped and they want it declared unconstitutional.
You can find the Finance Act 2018 HERE.