NAIROBI, Aug.14 (Xinhua) -- Kenya's tax revenue jumped to 1.58 trillion Kenyan shillings (15.3 billion U.S. dollars) for the financial year of 2019, compared to 13.9 billion dollars in the previous period, the tax agency said on Wednesday.
James Githii Mburu, commissioner general of the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA), told journalists in Nairobi that the revenue growth was largely driven by increased taxes from domestic and customs sectors.
"For the first time in KRA history, domestic taxes collection exceeded 9.68 billion dollars, while customs revenue exceeded 4.84 billion dollars," Mburu said.
The tax agency attributed the growth of custom revenues to increased oil import volumes as well as the impact of tax policy.
Mburu said that the exchequer revenue for the 2018/19 financial year grew to 14.3 billion dollars against 12.98 billion dollars collected in the previous financial year.
He observed that corporation tax in the period under review recorded a slow growth due to a spike in investment tax deductions.
In order to boost revenues, KRA has prioritized partnerships nationally, regionally and globally in order to fight tax crimes.
Last year, KRA partnered with the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), U.S. Department of the Treasury, Australian Taxation Office, Sweden Tax Agency and the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore, he added.
Mburu revealed that Kenya's goal in revenue mobilization is to raise the revenue to gross domestic product ratio from 18.3 percent as recorded within the 2017/18 financial year to 19.2 percent by the 2020/21 financial year.
