Wednesday, June 12, 2013

Kenya and inequality

Kenya's poorest 20 percent earn about five percent of the country's total income, whereas the wealthiest 20 percent earn 53 percent.

The government's own estimates claim that the country loses more than $1.1bn a year to unnecessary tax breaks and tax holidays for big businesses. The International Monetary Fund itself has disproved the claim that these tax holidays increase investment - they only pull resources created by the people away from the people.

Kenyan members of parliament unanimously voted to overturn a directive by the newly established Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC), constitutionally established to remove parliamentarians' powers to decide their own pay, which had reduced their pay from $126,000 to $78,000 earlier this year.  Kenyan MPs are among the highest-paid in the world.

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