Kenyan artists are raising their disappointment on the newly proposed bill to have artists deducted 15% of their pay.

One of the proposals in the Bill is the taxation of payments made to digital creators.

Among them was Kenyan Comedian Eric Omondi telling the Government to not tax content creators as they work so hard to come up with content in a press briefing at KNT he defined taxing content creators as daylight theft.

Abel Mutua also disagrees with this act, saying that the Government should look for other better ways to generate revenue rather than revolving on a specific group of people.

“Government should get this right, just increase the number of people being taxed…. There are a lot of people who are earning and are not being taxed……. the government should find ways of making sure that everyone who earns pays the tax…. But do not overtax the small number of people you have” Abel lamented.

He said that it would be even better to create more opportunities for people so that they can tax them.

Philip Karanja also shared his thoughts, saying that taxing the content creators would be wrong as it would kill the industry before they even establish themselves. Adding that it would be hard to reestablish to their business.

These are just some of the few creatives who have decided to go public and talk about it.

Content creation has grown over the years, and creators earn a living through sponsored content, digital campaigns, or ad revenue from platforms such as YouTube, TikTok and Facebook. Under the current taxation regime defined by the Income Tax Act (ITA), certain digital payments made are subject to withholding tax, while others may not fall under the provisions of the ITA. Payments made by taxpayers to digital content creators will be subject to a 15% withholding tax rate, according to the new proposed legislation. Considering the fact that the definition of digital content monetization has been expanded to include various types of content and services.

If the said proposed bill is approved it should be effective from September 1st 2023.