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On Efficiency, Equity, and Optimal Taxation: Reforming Kenya's Tax System

Kenya faces numerous challenges and complexities in formulating and implementing tax policies, undermining the effectiveness of the taxation system. These issues include structural inefficiencies like a narrow tax base, difficulties in taxing informal sectors, misalignment between the tax code and economic structure, over-reliance on key tax heads, and a complex political environment. Mandatory annual revisions through the Finance Bill introduce further obstacles due to insufficient evaluation of previous revisions and increased complexity for taxpayers/businesses. These challenges highlight the urgent need for a more strategic approach to tax policy in Kenya that balances responsiveness, economic analysis, evidence, and stability (Kemboi & Kagume, 2024).[1]

An ideal tax system efficiently generates the necessary public revenue with minimal economic distortion, ensures equity by taxing individuals fairly according to their ability to pay, maintains simplicity for ease of tax understanding and administration, ensures transparency for accountability, offers neutrality to prevent market distortions, operates cost-effectively, adapts to change flexibly, provides stable expectations for planning purposes, and has a broad tax base to avoid overburdening any single group

[1] Kemboi, L. K., & Kagume, J. (2024). Political Economy Analysis of Taxation Policy in Kenya-IEA Kenya. https://ieakenya.or.ke/?wpdmdl=3304