Gachagua urges Ruto to suspend housing levy and cut PAYE pressure
Key points
- Former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua urged the Ruto administration to suspend the Affordable Housing Levy and reduce PAYE tax bands.
- He spoke at a “Ruto at Four” address at DCP headquarters, linking tax burden to the high cost of living.
- He also called for a review of the petroleum pricing framework to raise workers’ net income.
- He claimed average workers lose about 45–50 per cent of monthly earnings to taxes and statutory levies.
“Once again, I call on this government to cushion the payslip by suspending the Affordable Housing Levy and reducing the PAYE tax bands,” former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua said during his Ruto at Four address at DCP headquarters on Tuesday, Eastleigh Voice reported.
Gachagua argued the government should put more money in workers’ hands instead of adding deductions. He paired the housing-levy freeze and PAYE band review with a call to re-examine the petroleum price framework. “This, together with the review of the petroleum price framework, will give Kenyans increased net income,” he said, framing disposable income as the quickest cost-of-living lever politicians can still touch before 2027.
The 45–50 per cent take-home claim
He said the tax burden is among the main drivers of high living costs and claimed the average Kenyan worker loses between 45 per cent and 50 per cent of monthly earnings through taxes and other statutory deductions. That figure is a political claim, not a Treasury table in the same package — but it is the emotional core of his payslip message to formal-sector voters squeezed by housing levy lines and fuel prices.
Politics desk: Politics. Related: housing levy hub where available. Verified venue, policy asks and percentage claim from Eastleigh Voice; no government counter-table was published alongside the speech summary.
Treasury and State House will either defend the levy as a housing pipeline or face a campaign season of Gachagua payslip arithmetic. Workers will judge whichever side first shows a cleaner net on the next salary advice.
Formal workers reading their next payslip will decide whether Gachagua arithmetic matches reality. Housing pipeline defenders must show houses and jobs, not only levy lines, if they want the message to stick into the next campaign season.
Based on Eastleigh Voice reporting of Gachagua’s DCP address. Policy proposals are opposition positions unless enacted; percentage claims are as stated by the speaker.
