Reprinted from Caribbean Net News
caribbeannetnews.com
ROSEAU, Dominica: Dominica’s parliament on Monday evening enacted its first-ever Value Added Tax (VAT) system amid muted response from the Opposition to Government MPs’ “aye”.
In what has been described by observers as an anti-climax to contrasting views on the VAT, the parliamentary opposition United Workers Party (UWP) did not challenge the Government side when a vote was called.
The one-day debate on the new tax system pitted Government MPs with Opposition MPs who strongly differed on the possible effect it will have on the nation’s low-income class.
In a post debate comment, Attorney General Ian Douglas said VAT was more equitable than the current taxation system.
“I think it’s the way to go it’s a more efficient system of taxation who had a broader tax net with more persons contributing to the tax burden,” the state’s legal adviser said.
For Opposition Leader Edison James, his main contentious point was that the government had left the VAT on local agricultural commodities in “limbo”.
“The fact that we have not settled on the way we treat locally produced agricultural commodities is of concern,” the former Prime Minister and farmer said.
The VAT system, which will replace the consumption tax (20% at its maximum) and the sales tax (7.5%), is scheduled to take effect on March 1, 2006.
The meeting of parliament continues on Tuesday morning with a debate on an Excise Act followed by appointments of the privileges committee, the public accounts committee and the standing orders committee.
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