The Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) has said it has turned to social media to troll taxpayers’ lifestyles and ensure they are at par with their taxes.

KRA Commissioner-General Githii Mburu said KRA officers are now spending time across social media platforms following up on Kenyans posting their photos enjoying their lives.

"In the social media, we have some people posting some nice things. You would see some posting nice houses, cars, taking their families to nice places and so on. Here, we are not sleeping, when we see those, we see taxes," Mburu said.

Among Kenyans under scrutiny are those posting about expensive parties, lavish living, luxury motor vehicles, travel destinations and such.

KRA said it is time for every Kenyan to their fair share of the taxes as it races to bring more people into the tax bracket and curb tax evasion or cheating.

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The taxman is focused on monitoring Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat accounts to smoke out tax cheats.

Mburu who revealed his curiosity whenever a fuel guzzler passes by him said he often asks himself if the owner has paid their taxes and also said KRA officers have a system to look up details of the vehicle’s owner.

"We have our officers looking, they have gadgets. They key in very quickly (the number plate) to check. We are working exceptionally hard," he said.

He explained his curiosity could be one of the reasons he exceeded his tax collection target for the year 2021 by Sh27 million.

Mburu said tax cheats risk prosecution, travel bans, direct collection of duty from their suppliers and bankers among other penalties.

The taxman revealed that scores of Kenyans building their homes hide behind the banks and do not pay taxes, claiming the homes are products of loans from the banks.

He said they are following up on such home builders through their application for meters because KRA knows there must be a source of money for paying back the loans.

"We know you can build a house from loans. But that loan must be repaid from somewhere. We are following all those applying for meters," Mburu added.