‘Paramilitary’ Tax Agents Deployed in Kenya’s Revenue Drive
- Ruto bid to boost revenue has spawned mass demonstrations
- High Court on Tuesday kept nearly all new taxes in place
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As the scores of young tax agents went door-to-door in Nairobi’s Eastleigh district, shopkeepers shifted nervously.
President William Ruto’s ambitious plans to boost revenue had come to the Kenyan capital’s main shopping stretch on a late October afternoon. As the agents moved in pairs down bustling 1st Avenue, they registered dozens of shops onto the East African nation’s tax rolls — clothing stores, luggage shops, outlets selling spices and grains — after checking their books and determining average sales figures.