Nairobi, Aug. 25 -- Dear Kenya Revenue Authority Commissioner General; You assume office at a critical moment for our country, when revenue mobilisation, economic growth, job creation and private-sector competitiveness must work together.

I write on behalf of stakeholders across Kenya's advertising, marketing and creative industries to draw your attention to an issue that is having an increasingly significant impact on the sector: the five percent withholding tax applied to the sector.

We recognise the rationale for withholding tax. It is an important mechanism for improving compliance and ensuring that government revenues are collected efficiently.

The concern is not with taxation itself, but with the unintended economic consequences ...