Kenya collects $11 bln in taxes in fiscal year ended June 30

President Kenyatta

Kenya collected 963.8 billion shillings ($11 billion) in taxes in the fiscal year that ended last month, its tax agency said on Tuesday, just topping a target it cut after poor rainfall hit the country's economic growth.
The government had lowered its revenue target for the year to 963.7 billion shillings from an initial target of 973.5 billion shillings.
The east African nation has been struggling to beat rampant tax evasion to fund ever-growing expenditures ranging from newly devolved units of government to infrastructure projects.
Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) said collection efforts benefited from sales tax reforms instituted last year.
The share of value-added tax to overall revenue rose by just over 1 percentage point to 24.2 percent, the agency said.
Prices of most commodities, including food and newspapers, went up last September after the government reviewed the law on VAT to remove the number of items that were not taxed.
Finance Minister Henry Rotich has set a revenue collection target of 1.12 trillion shillings for this fiscal year, up 16.4 percent from the year just finished.
Authorities are reviewing the income tax law to bring more eligible taxpayers on board.