The Railway Development Levy (RDL), which is one of the proposals President William Ruto has emphasized as a key pillar in the most recent tax proposals aimed at improving the operating environment for businesses, will be reduced from two percent to 1.5 percent as a result of the Finance Bill 2023 proposal to amend Section 8 of the Miscellaneous Fees and Levies Act of 2016, saving taxpayers approximately Sh3.6 billion annually.

“I have said yes, we are going to increase Value Added Tax on fuel by 8 percent which will give us about Sh50 billion to deal with the challenge of roads across the country. To balance it out, I have removed Railway Development Levy and Import Declaration Fee,” President Ruto said

According to data from the National Treasury, the Exchequer will lose Sh1.3 billion as a result of the proposal in the Finance Bill 2023 to change Section 7 of the Miscellaneous Fees and Levies Act of 2016 to cut the Import Declaration Fee (IDF) from 3.5 percent to 2.5 percent.

According to National Treasury data, RDL payments are expected to fall by Sh3.6 billion, from Sh36.8 billion in the current fiscal year to Sh33.2 billion in 2023/24.