NAIROBI — Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi has downplayed the talk of the government hurting the pay slips of salaried Kenyans amid increased deductions.

According to Mbadi, the tax laws introduced by the Treasury in December last year are an improvement from the previous administration.

"We have actually improved people's pay slips; it's only that sometimes we overplay the talk of pay slips getting thinner," he said.

The Mbadi-led treasury had in December enacted laws governing the deduction of the Social Health Insurance Fund (SHIF) and the Housing Levy, a factor that critics now say is hurting an already depressed pay slip of the Kenyan taxpayer.

This includes the deductions of SHIF and the housing levy from workers' gross salaries before taxation, a departure from the old system that gave a tax relief of 15 percent on these contributions.

Over the weekend, the former DP criticized the government claiming that it was over-taxing the Kenyan workers thus hurting their pay slip and reducing her purchasing power.

Gachagua vowed to "restore the dignity" of Kenyan workers' pay, pledging that a future administration under his leadership would reverse these changes.

However, Mbadi refuted Gachagua's claims, asserting that the remarks were misleading and failed to acknowledge the positive aspects of the new tax system.

According to Mbadi, the new tax laws have seen a reduction in tax burdens on taxpayers.