Dear Listers, Before Dr. Njuguna Ndung’u became the National Treasury CS, in 2019, in a policy brief, he wrote that gains made to advance financial inclusion in Kenya would likely be erased due to the continuous higher taxation of mobile money services. Time will tell now that his team crafted the Finance Act 2023. Here is the brief Taxing mobile phone transactions in Africa: Lessons from Kenya (brookings.edu) <https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Taxing_mobile_transactions_20190806.pdf#:~:text=The%20taxation%20on%20mobile%20phone-based%20transactions%20and%20on,on%20internet%20data%20services%20and%20fixed-line%20telephone%20services.> *Kind Regards,* *David Indeje *_____________________________________ +254 (0) 711 385 945 | +254 (0) 734 024 856 <https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-indeje/> On Sat, 29 Jul 2023 at 14:21, Mwendwa Kivuva via KICTANet < kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote:
Safaricom PLC and other mobile money operators have reviewed their charges after the enactment of the Finance Act 2023. M-PESA mobile transfer charges have gone up from 12% to 15%.
At the same time, the excise duty rate for call, SMS, and Internet has gone down from 20% to 15%.
Is Financial inclusion in danger? Will users go back to the cash economy? As we fiddle with taxation in the digital space, is there cost-benefit analysis advising these decisions?
Best Regards, ______________________ Mwendwa Kivuva, Nairobi, Kenya https://www.linkedin.com/in/mwendwa-kivuva _______________________________________________ KICTANet mailing list -- kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke To unsubscribe send an email to kictanet-leave@lists.kictanet.or.ke Unsubscribe or change your options at: https://mm3-lists.kictanet.or.ke/mm/lists/kictanet.lists.kictanet.or.ke/
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