Tackle corruption instead of increasing taxes in counties

Most of the counties rely chiefly on shareable revenue from the National Treasury and own source revenues. [Istockphoto]

It is heartening to hear that after a month in office, some county governments are already thinking about how to ramp up their revenue collection. It is not a secret that revenue collection in most counties has been wanting and, needless to say, that affects development plans.

For that reason, revelations that some new county bosses are seeking the help of former Laikipa Governor Nderitu Mureithi to increase their own source revenues are encouraging. During his tenure, between 2017 and 2022, Mr Mureithi increased Laikipia County's revenue base from Sh400 million to Sh1 billion. It is that feat that counties such as Homa Bay want to emulate.

Notably, Laikipia was also the first county to be allowed to issue a bond to diversify its revenue sources. Most of the counties rely chiefly on shareable revenue from the National Treasury and own source revenues.

However, even as counties seek to beef up their coffers, they must eschew the temptation to burden Kenyans with more levies. This is because most people are struggling due to high cost of living owing to, among other things, punitive national government taxes.

Luckily, there are several ways for the devolved units to raise money for development without hurting the taxpayers further by increasing taxes or introducing new levies.

One of these ways is aggressively collecting existing taxes. A report by the Commission on Revenue Allocation and backed by the World Bank revealed that Sh216 billion go uncollected in counties every year.

Sealing the existing loopholes that have contributed to revenue leakages can also give counties more money for development. Corruption in the counties, just like in the national government, eats a huge chunk of money. No wonder some Kenyans complain that corruption was also devolved to the regional governments.

Finally, avoiding unnecessary spending, such as on extravagant bench-marking trips, can save counties money and taxpayers more pain.