Kenya’s parliament has voted to approve this year’s proposed finance law, rejecting the Kenya Revenue Authority’s (KRA) request for unrestricted access to taxpayers’ data due to privacy concerns and constitutional safeguards.
The decision comes after a public backlash over alleged privacy violations and follows the parliamentary finance committee’s rejection of the proposal on Monday.
The finance law aims to raise an extra 30 billion shillings ($233 million) mainly through boosting tax compliance, as part of a 4.29 trillion-shilling ($33 billion) budget for the 2025/26 fiscal year.
The approval of the finance law comes amid pressure on the government to avoid a repeat of last year’s unrest, which saw over 60 deaths and forced President William Ruto to abandon plans to raise 346 billion shillings in taxes.
