NAIROBI, July 7- The Kenya Revenue Authority has surpassed its 4th quarter targets by Sh4.1 billion representing a 10.1 percent growth rate over the same period last year.
The revenue body registered collections of Sh118.4 billion compared to Sh107.6 billion over the same period last year.
Revenue performance hit Sh433.9 billion up from Sh360.2 billion in 2006/07 for the full financial year.
The improved revenue collection from a target of Sh424.6 billion has been attributed to strong tax collection measures laid out in the first half of the 2007/08 fiscal year.
Despite the post-election violence that rocked the country early in the year, KRA entered the fourth quarter – representing periods between April to June 2008 – with a collection of Sh118.4 billion. The performance represents a 10.1 percent increase from Sh107.6 billion collected during the previous year.
KRA Commisioner General Michael Waweru said that improved performance was noted in the Customs Service Department, which collected Sh157.3 billion for 2007/2008 fiscal year up from Sh142.5 billion in 2006/2007.
However, Waweru indicated that the customs service department had been negatively affected by the post-election violence.
"Performance of the CSD was adversely affected by the post-election instability, which hampered movement of cargo internally and along the Northern Corridor," he said.
He further noted that revenue from petroleum taxes was still low despite increased use of the product and ever increasing prices world wide.
Waweru attributed this phenomenon to increased dumping of petroleum products in the country thus making it impossible for the revenue body to fully realise tax from the product.
Waweru revealed that the category only recorded a 2.4 percent increase compared to the same period last year making it the lowest contributor in the customs service department in revenue performance for the year.
"If we did better under petroleum taxes since it’s a large component we would have done much better," Waweru added.
KRA collected Sh274.3 billion in domestic taxes up from Sh215.6 billion for 2006/2007.
The road transport department collected Sh2.3 billion up from Sh2.1 billion for the same period in the fiscal year 2006/2007.
In an effort to improve revenue collections, Waweru said the Authority was conducting a pilot wireless connection for the Electronic Tax Registers (ETR) with volunteers. The ETR machines would forward data to the main KRA server to reduce the paper work requirements and hasten processing of VAT returns.
The Authority will also acquire X-Ray scanners to assist in verification, detection of uncustomed goods and misdeclaration of containerised cargo at the Inland Container Depot (ICD) Embakasi and the Swissport Cargo Services at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA).
