Here's a stark reality: not all governments use taxes the way they're supposed to. In Kenya, the situation flipped—tax collection actually made poverty worse. Sounds counterintuitive? The numbers tell the story. When you combine government taxation and spending patterns in Kenya, the net effect pushed poverty up by 2.7 percentage points in 2022 alone. Compare this to countries where fiscal policy works as intended—where taxes fund social safety nets that genuinely lift people out of poverty. Kenya's case is different. The burden of taxation outpaces the benefits residents receive from government transfers and services. It's a reminder that economic policy design matters. You can have all the right intentions, but if the mechanics are broken, people pay the price—literally.