Tubaki kienyeji? Inside Ruto’s plan to tax wigs, eyelashes, artificial nails, eyebrows
The government has made public the Finance Bill 2013 ahead of President William Ruto’s first budget in June 2023.
In the Bill, a host of items were proposed for excise duty taxing.
The Kenya Revenue Authority defines Excise Duty as tax imposed on goods and services manufactured in Kenya or imported into Kenya.
In the Finance Bill 2023, below are some of the items proposed for taxing ahead of the first reading in the National Assembly and how much tax will be imposed on the goods and services if approved:
- Human hair and other products of heading 6703 will be taxed at 5%
- Wigs, false beards, eyebrows and eyelashes, switches and the like, and other products of heading 6704 will be taxed 5%
- Artificial nails of tariff no. 3926.90.90 will be taxed 5%
In addition, imported cellular phones will be charged 10%. This means that the cost of beauty products and cell phones is set to go up despite Kenyans already dealing with high costs of living.
To approve these Excise Duty tax proposals in the Finance Bill 2023, the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Economic Planning, Professor Njuguna Ndung’u will first have to introduce and read it out to the National Assembly in the First Reading. It will then be assigned a tracking number and assigned to a Committee.
In the Second reading, the Bill is read for a second time and a vote is taken in the general outlines of the Bill before it is sent to the designated Committee. In the Third Reading stage, the Bill is read with all amendments and given the final approval by the National Assembly. It is then forwarded to the President to either assent for it to become an Act of Parliament; or he can dissent. Should he assent, the Commencement stage takes over whereby it will be announced when it will come into effect through a legal notice by the Cabinet Secretary.
In June 2022, it was estimated that the beauty industry in Kenya was worth Sh 100 billion. The Business Daily reported that it was an industry projected to be growing at a rate of 400% per year and many foreign investors have established their presence in the Kenyan market including Fenty and L’Oreal.
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