Nairobi, May 11 -- Fuel tax cuts following the Iran war and fear of Sh35 billion revenue hole forced the Treasury to backtrack on the pledge to include income tax cuts for salaried workers earning below Sh50,000 in the Finance Bill.

The National Treasury says it has been forced to pause the payslip relief after it cut value-added tax on petroleum products to eight percent from 13 percent for three months to cushion consumers from a surge in fuel prices following the Middle East conflict.

It reckons that the cuts on VAT and the Sh35 billion personal income tax relief posed risks to Kenya's public finances.

The State promised that salaried workers earning Sh50,000 and below would enjoy income tax cuts of between Sh731 and Sh2,127 under p...