Kenyan Court Upholds Ruto’s Tax to Fund Affordable Housing

Kenya’s High Court upheld the validity of a tax measure that President William Ruto is using to raise funding for affordable housing, boosting his attempts to steady the nation’s finances.

The court last year declared that a mandatory 1.5% levy imposed on employees and matched by their employers was “discriminatory and unfair” because it only applied to those with formal jobs. It also found that the legal framework needed to institute the tax hadn’t been put in place.

After the government failed to have the ruling overturned on appeal, legislators passed a new law that made the levy applicable to ...