Author Topic: Tax collection up 300% due to less stealing by urp thugs  (Read 9007 times)

Offline RV Pundit

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Re: Tax collection up 300% due to less stealing by urp thugs
« Reply #40 on: May 14, 2021, 10:23:59 AM »
But gov role is to create such scale; coz it posses the capacity to do that? Why would want to wait for organic anemic growth? When gov is a great leverage if you used well.

I think we are in agreement that Kenya has a tiny private sector - and huge informal sector - and this where we need to fix.

Gov has the biggest role here. It can create policy, financing and necessary infrastructure to make it happen.

If you look around the last 10 yrs - we have created new industries in m-pesa/agent shops,digital taxis, boda bodas and maybe diary/nuts/fruit sectors

Safaricom, Banks, Uber were largely responsible for scaling this but gov policy helps - gov allowed m-pesa, agent banking, removed taxes on boda boda and these have created new industries.

HOW DO WE REPLICATE THIS?

If they fumble like they have done severally on Keg beer (non malt beer) - introducing and removing taxes - that would tragic. I have complained here bitterly over many years for KEG beer mishandling - and then later we cry about illicit dangerous alcohol killing people or reducing them to walking dead.

Gov has to think about the bottom (large informal sector) as it's core business - and stop engaging in little private sector talks. They are not the majority - and do not deserve any more attention than informal sector.

If a private company is willing for example to come up with solution to fix boda boda mess - give them what they need-yes boda boda are invaluable last mile transport in kenya but they are unruly and chaotic - and barely making money for riders. If the policy is to make them belong to SACCOs - go for it - and give them the incentive to do this.

Private sector companies that are large like Safaricom and gov have the capacity to create industry size scale needed to transform our economy.

Organic grown or earned economic scale is very important. What I don't advocate for is forced or induced economic scale. Forced scale leads to high artificial barrier to entry, creating a cartel like organizations.