Nairobi — President William Ruto has urged the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) to treat Kenyans with courtesy while collecting taxes.

Since citizens support the government, the Head of State said they should be treated with dignity.

"Not only is it possible to be efficient and effective while being courteous and considerate, it is the only way to serve tax payers," President Ruto said during the KRA Tax Day in Mombasa County today.

"It is not necessary for effective revenue collection to be unpleasant and demeaning to taxpayers," he added.

His statement comes barely a day after KRA issued an apology after a couple were harassed at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) over the wedding gown taxation row.

However, the taxman said on its X App that the wedding dress in question was valued at $2,000, which exceeded the allowable limit of $500 for duty-free items and, as such, was subject to duty according to its customs laws.

"We are pleased to inform you that the couple, upon understanding the tax requirements, paid the necessary taxes and complied with the regulations. We are grateful for their cooperation," read the post by KRA in part.

According to the new guidelines rolled out by the taxman, new items valued up to the value of 500 dollars for each traveler are exempt from import tax, with items beyond that threshold subject to tax.

KRA has come under fire over its push to collect taxes from travelers' personal and household items.

It recently issued a directive seeking to tax travelers or passengers arriving into the country from international destinations to the JKIA with items worth 500 dollars onwards.

This translates to Sh75, 000 for every item that exceeds its threshold.

Ruto added that state revenue had grown by 400 percent from Sh2 billion to Sh8 billion following the consolidation of e-citizen services into one paybill platform.