By Allan Kisia

Nairobi, Kenya: The Central Organisation of Trade Unions (COTU) has challenged the Government to address widespread non-remittance of taxes to the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA).

Secretary General Francis Atwoli said non-remittance of taxes deny the Government much-needed revenue to initiate programmes that will jumpstart the economy.

He said if everybody paid taxes to KRA, President Uhuru Kenyatta could easily increase the minimum wage by between 30 and 40 per cent without hurting the economy.

“All we need to do is to address the spillage in non-payment and remittance of taxes and it must be known by all that Kenya is such a wonderful and rich country,” he explained.

Mr Atwoli said a recent study commissioned by COTU showed that a total of Sh354 billion was lost in taxes between June 2010 and June 2012.

He said studies of the country’s economic performance showed that many organisations across all sectors made profits but failed to remit all due taxes.

“It is against this background that when workers make demands for better working terms and conditions, such demands are based on facts and data provided by researchers at COTU,” he pointed out.

He said the study showed the manufacturing sector did not remit Sh250 billion in taxes followed by financial sector that failed to remit Sh100 billion. He noted that only the mining sector paid all the taxes, with the general agriculture and mixed farming sector failing to remit the least amount, Sh100 million.

“I want the President to have a clear picture of how organisations fail to pay taxes yet they pay their employees poorly,” he stated.

Atwoli made the remarks in his address to mark Labour Day celebrations at Nairobi’s Uhuru Park whose theme was Economic Transformation for Employment Creation.

Atwoli reiterated that tax evasion has been a major hindrance to economic growth. He said the Government’s wage bill is not as high as people are made to believe.

“It is a borrowed notion from international money lenders and it started at the onset of multi-party democracy,” he explained.

He said Western countries did not develop through controlled wages. “The economy cannot grow when the majority of people are poor. People need to have the buying power,” he explained. He expressed confidence that Uhuru and Ruto will turn around the economy of the country.