Nairobi, July 13 -- The High Court has revived a Sh2.9 billion tax claim against the State-owned Kenya Roads Board (KRB), saying that interest earned from investing surplus road maintenance funds is taxable.

The court overturned an earlier ruling by a tribunal which had granted tax exemptions to KRB and pointed out that such reliefs would only be granted through a law expressly legislated by Parliament.

"The tribunal erred in law in its interpretation of the First Schedule of the Income Tax Act and as a result arrived at an erroneous conclusion that the respondent's interest income earned from various banks was exempt from tax," the High Court said.

The court noted that there is a difference between the statutory road levy itself-which...