Pain for revellers as Rotich hits alcohol, cigarettes with higher taxes
Revelers will dig deeper into their pockets to get high after Treasury Secretary Henry Rotich announced an increase in excise duty on alcohol and cigarettes in his 2019/20 budget.
Mr Rotich on Thursday explained that the sin tax hike is meant to plug deficits in the budget.
” Mr Speaker, in order to address this decline and to boost excise revenues, I propose to increase the rates of excise duty on cigarettes, wines and spirit by 15%.
“In other words, Mr. Speaker, excise duties on alcohol and tobacco will be increased as follows: a 750ml bottle of wine will have an excise duty of Ksh 136 which is Ksh 18 more from the current rate; the duty of a bottle of whisky will go up by Ksh 24 to Ksh 182 for a 750ml bottle.
“The excise duty on a packet of 20 cigarettes will increase by Ksh 8 to Ksh 61 per packet,” said Mr Rotich.
In April 2019, East African Breweries Limited (EABL) announced an increase in prices of its product after corporate tax was increased from 30 percent to 35 percent.
The tax affected firms with annual income of more than Sh500 million