Kenya: Gov’t Proposes Excise Tax On E-Bikes

Kenya has proposed to introduce excise duty on all imported electric motorbikes other than motorcycle ambulances.

This move by William Samoei Ruto’s administration has been viewed as contradictory to the government’s earlier policy on promoting e-mobility.

The proposal is contained in the Finance Bill 2024 which is aimed to amend Part 1 of the first schedule to the Excise Duty Act to remove excise duty on petrol engine motorcycles, according to a report by Kenya Star.

Nine months ago, President William Ruto launched electric bikes in Mombasa in a bid to accelerate e-mobility adoption.

In Kenya, electric motorcycles valued at KSh150,000 are currently not subject to excise duty.

This was one of the incentives put in place by the state to empower the youth by lowering the operational costs in the ‘boda boda’ industry.

The Deloitte 2024 Budget Analysis report deemed the decision by the government counter-effective as this would lower the demand for electric bikes.

“The proposal to remove excise duty on petrol-powered motorcycles may increase the demand for petrol motorcycles and derail the Government’s policy on electric motorcycles,” said the report.

The latest data from the Clean Air Fund report on Nairobi and air pollution shows transport caters for 40 per cent of pollution followed by biomass fuels at 25 per cent.

This further shows the need to find solutions to curb air pollution by automobiles in large cities, especially Nairobi whose population is 4.3 million according to the 2019 census.

Source: https://energynewsafrica.com