When tax-avoidance is not criminal

In the Bata Shoe Company case (2014), the court opined that since payment of tax is an involuntary obligation imposed by law, a taxpayer is not obliged to pay a single coin more than is due to the taxman and the taxman, on the other hand, is entitled to collect up to the last coin that is due from a taxpayer.

The enactment of the Tax Procedures Act (TPA) in Kenya in 2015, and the politics surrounding the infamous Panama Papers has ignited debate on the distinction between permissible and impermissible tax avoidance. This arises from the need to maintain an intricate balance between tax collection and the rights of a taxpayer to legitimately, and now, morally, minimise their tax liability which, as the court held in the Bata case, is an involuntary obligation.