The ODM party has made fun of the recent concern by government officials and lawmakers on the taxes proposed in last year's finance bill which President William Ruto signed into law.
The lawmakers and ranking officials have been taking stock of the situation on the ground, where Kenyans have been decrying the oppressive tax regimes.
For instance, Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua learnt that farmers were totally opposed to the tax on farm produce.
A withholding tax of not more than 5% on farm produce was proposed through the Medium-term Revenue Strategy by the National Treasury.
This would see farmers contribute to the government's initiative to raise more revenue.
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For every Sh 100 made in sales, a farmer would remit Sh 5 to the taxman.
However, speaking in Embu on Friday, March 1, the deputy president admitted that the tax proposition would exploit the farmers.
According to him, it was unreasonable to fight for the welfare of the local farmers and at the same time deprive them of their profits through taxes.
"On this tax issue, we saw some mistakes in it...It cannot help the farmer, and on the other hand, exploit them. Our government values farmers and listens to them," said Rigathi.
To right the wrong, the deputy president said he had engaged President William Ruto and the National Treasury Cabinet Secretary Njuguna Ndung'u to review the proposition.
He promised that the lawmakers would be engaged in the matter for purposes of amendment in the National Assembly.
Reacting to the quick fixes the government seems to be after, ODM said it had warned the lawmakers when the bill was in the National Assembly.
"We rallied our troops in Parliament to oppose the oppressive Finance Bill. Our brothers from the other side chanted and called us names saying how anti-development we were. We knew about the BITE. The chewing is now hard, the biting awaits Kenyans…they now know what we meant," the party posted on Twitter.
