With the advent of the money-lending apps, many Kenyans have found themselves in a vicious cycle of debt. The need to beat the repayment period in time for a more positive credit rating leads them to borrow from yet another app and the cycle continues.

The government seems to operate in the same manner. In the Finance Bill of 2018, officials introduced value added tax (VAT) on petroleum products at 8 percent. There was an uproar because Kenyans are already heavily taxed, but the government had its way.

Early this week, the government once again gave guidelines on how the housing levy fund would be collected. Yet again, this is another chip on the take-home pay of the ordinary Kenyan.

The deductions on the itemised payslip of a Kenyan worker will contain, inter alia, PAYE, NHIF and NSSF deductions. Further, the worker will suffer more taxation while purchasing VAT-able goods. Therefore, introducing a housing levy fund at 1.5 percent of their basic pay will be an extra burden on the workers.

The issue of housing will need a lot of stakeholder engagement before a tax can be introduced for affordable housing. It does not escape us that the government is targeting three million salaried employees to provide funds for a country with a surging population of over 45 million people. Ironically, the salaried employees are more likely to already own homes.

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