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Hatua hiyo inafuatia ongezeko la Kodi na Tozo mbalimbali zilizopitishwa kupitia Sheria mpya ya Fedha ya mwaka 2023, Sheria ambayo imelalamikiwa kuongeza mzigo wa gharama za maisha kwa Wananchi.
Kupitia mitandao ya Kijamii baadhi ya Wananchi wanadai Utawala wa Rais Ruto umekuwa kinyume na ahadi zake za kushusha gharama za maisha badala yake Rais ameongeza mzigo wa Kodi kwenye bidhaa na vipato vya Wananchi kiasi ambacho wanamlinganisha na Zakayo Mtoza Ushuru aliyetajwa katika Biblia.
Malalamiko mengine ni pamoja na Kodi na Tozo zinazokusanywa zimekuwa zikisaidia kufadhili ubadhirifu Serikalini badala ya kuboresha huduma za umma. Pia, Wananchi wamedai Safari za Rais zimekuwa nyingi na zinatumia Kodi zao kwa manufaa yasiyoonekana.
Tangu Julai 2023, kumekuwa na ongezeko la Kodi kwa Mishahara ya kila mwezi kutoka 30% hadi 35%, Kodi ya Nyumba 1.5%, Mfuko wa Bima 2.75%, Ushuru wa Mauzo ya 3%, Kodi ya Mafuta 16% kutoka 8%. Ongezeko hilo liliibua Maandamano yaliyosabbaisha baadhi ya Watu kuuawa.
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Kenya's President William Ruto is mockingly referred to as Zakayo - Swahili for the biblical figure Zacchaeus, who is portrayed in the Christian holy book as a greedy tax collector who climbed a tree to see Jesus.
This is because Mr Ruto has introduced a raft of new taxes, and raised old ones, since he was elected president in August 2022, making him unpopular with many Kenyans who believe he has betrayed his campaign pledge to champion the interests of "hustlers" - those who struggle financially.
Mr Ruto has acknowledged that the taxes are "painful" but, in an Independence Day speech on 12 December, said the sacrifices the nation was making "would make our freedom fighters proud".
For him, higher taxation is necessary to reduce government borrowing, and bring down the national debt, which has soared to 10 trillion shillings ($65bn; £51bn).
"We have made the right choices, sometimes taking very difficult and painful decisions, to steer Kenya back from the edge of the catastrophic cliff of debt distress," he said.
Nor does the president mind being compared to the biblical figure.
"Since I have already been referred to as Zakayo in some areas, maybe we will have a tax collector day," he said in May.
But many Kenyans are not in agreement with him. The pain of taxes dominate everyday conversations, especially as the cost-of-living is rising.
They also say the taxes are only helping to fund extravagance in government rather than improve public services.
This perception has grown, especially after Kenya's Controller of Budget - an independent office that oversees the usage of public funds - recently raised concern over the high taxes amid "wasteful" spending, including on domestic and international travel by government officials.
President Ruto, who has made over 40 trips abroad in about a year, has defended his travelling, saying he was seeking foreign investments and job opportunities for Kenyans.
In about the same time, 70,000 private-sector jobs have been lost amid a drastic rise in operating costs, and the closure of some businesses, according to the latest report by the Federation of Kenyan Employers (FKE).
It warns of the risk of more job losses, pointing out that 40% of employers are still considering scaling down their operations.
FKE has called for the government to review taxes, but businessmen complain that the government is not listening.
Economist Ken Gichinga says Kenya has been discouraging business by placing a heavy tax burden on companies that are supposed to create jobs, make profits and boost government finances.
In the end, some firms relocate to other countries, people who were thinking of opening a small business like a restaurant drop the idea, while existing businesses are forced to go into the informal sector to avoid paying taxes - something that has already started happening.
Mike Muriuki, the director of a 10-year-old company that distributes and markets LPG gas cylinders, tells the BBC that tax hikes are suffocating his business.
He says ordinary people have no money to buy cooking gas - that has made his business shrink over the past year from orders of 700 cylinders daily to just about 200.
Mr Muriuki says this has forced him to lay off more than 70% of his workers, leaving him with just about 20.
For many small and medium-sized businesses like his, Mr Muriuki says, the impact of the taxes have been very burdensome - and the conduct of tax collectors has bordered on "harassment" in some cases.
Last month, a Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) unit with paramilitary training visited one of his premises in Kiambu county, which borders the capital, Nairobi.
The tax agency's unit was deployed in September to enforce tax compliance.
At his premises, Mr Muriuki says, the tax officers asked for his sales and income records, including from mobile money transactions, as well as his tax returns. They also took pictures of the shop.
It was "scary", he tells the BBC.
"The manner they did it [can] put a lot of fear in businesspeople… People think these guys are coming to arrest us," Mr Muriuki adds.
He says people are "now trying to find ways to hide what they are collecting", including resorting to hard cash and directing mobile money payments to personal numbers rather than to business till accounts.
An owner of an auto spare parts shop in downtown Nairobi says he had stopped using his business till number amid higher transaction costs.
The gradual shift in the mode of payments has been the subject of recent social media discussion in Kenya, although data from the largest telecoms company Safaricom still shows a rise in mobile money transactions up to September.
