Only 54% of Kenyans are conversant with the Finance Bill 2024, a new opinion poll by Infotrak Research and Consulting Limited has shown.
According to the poll released on Thursday, June 6, 2024, 46% of Kenyans are not aware of the Finance Bill 2024.
“On awareness of the Finance Bill 2024, we had (54%) conversant with the Finance Bill 2024, with (46%) mentioned not to have been aware of it,” the opinion poll says.
Central region leads in awareness
According to the opinion poll conducted between May 23, 2024, and May 29, 2024, a majority of respondents in the central Kenya region (62%) are reported to have been aware of the Finance Bill 2024.
The Infotrak poll says Eastern regions scored the least in terms of awareness of the Bill (41%) but emerged second at (59%) in terms of awareness.
“A majority of respondents in the central region, 62%, are aware of the Finance Bill 2024, unlike other Eastern regions (41%), which scored the least in terms of awareness of the Bill. However, it emerged second at (59%) in terms of awareness. This is a clear indication of the rate of sensitization and education that goes on in the regions in regard to the Bill,” the Infotrak report reads.
Male more aware of Finance Bill 2024
In terms of gender, the male gender is more aware of the Finance Bill 2024 than the female gender, with (59%) of males being aware compared to (41%) of females.
Adults aged (46-55), who are often more engaged in financial matters, were noted to be the most aware of the Finance Bill 2024, rated at (60%), with Infotrak suggesting that age plays a significant role in awareness levels.
Impact of finance bill
Infotrak in its report says 85% of respondents from North Eastern mentioned that the Finance Bill 2024 won’t have any impact on the economy of the country.
“Regarding the perceived impact of the Finance Bill on Kenya’s Economy, we had (85%) of respondents from North Eastern mentioned that it won’t have any impact,” the report reads in part.
However, the report’s findings indicate that adults aged 36-45 at 80% and 45-55 at 81% indicated that they do not perceive any impact of the Finance Bill on the economy of Kenya.
16% VAT on bread
The poll also says that 87% of Kenyans said no to the introduction of 16% VAT on bread.
“A significant percentage of respondents were opposed to the 16% VAT tax on bread, with (87%) that said no to the said tax measure. Other areas targeted for taxing that respondents rejected are 16% VAT on financial and insurance services and things like Mpesa transactions,” the report says.
83% of the respondents are opposed to adding a level of protection for environmentally unfriendly products such as batteries, tyres, phones, and ICT equipment.
The North Eastern region had a high percentage of respondents who supported the bill proposal to introduce a 2.5% tax on motor vehicles based on their value, which would go to insurance.
Nine per cent of male respondents support the introduction of the 2. 5% tax on motor vehicles and seven per cent of female respondents support the said tax measure.
“Of the youth (14%) aged (18-26) mentioned that they do support additional levels of environmentally unfriendly products such as phones, batteries and ICT equipment, while (5%) of respondents aged ( 36 45)and those aged (45-55) ( 5%) support the tax measure on environmentally unfriendly products,” Infotrak reported.
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