Staff Writer
The Government of National Unity is being attacked by its counterparts across the political aisle over the number of duty free concessions being given to individuals for importation of luxury vehicles.
Opposition Parliamentary Representative for Constituency #2 the Hon. Marcella Liburd said on its weekly talk program Wednesday (Apr. 6), that the government is currently putting a cap on a number of programs that are benefiting the working class people in the Federation.
She pointed to a number of programs including the one-to-one laptop initiative and the Women in Small Enterprise that have been capped.
“There is a cap on the long service gratuity; there is a cap on resources for institution for institutions like schools, hospitals – the new Horizon Center is suffering for the lack of resources, but there is no cap on duty free Prados and BMW’s for the Ministers of Government and their cronies,” the representative said. “They are flaunting it in your face, while the ordinary people are burdened with taxes ”
To this end, she claimed that the duty free on those items has cost the government nearly $2million.
In order to offset the loss of revenue, Liburd said the government is forced to increase taxes and late fees for a number of programs.
“Just to let the people know, for each of those vehicles the treasury and the taxes, we lose over $100,000 in taxes for each one,” she stated. “So when you the number of these Prados and BMW’s , and other vehicles coming in over the last year you would see it is well over $1 million or up to $2million that we have lost out on taxes. And they sought to get this corrected by bringing more taxes on the people and burdening small businesses with high late fees.”
Against that backdrop, Liburd who is also the Labour Party Chairperson, called the act “illegal”, since government is now moving to bring legislation before the House for legalising penalties and high late fees.
“Like I said before, you should go back for your money or ask for a credit for late fees – high late fees people are paying without authority,” she declared.
Additionally, she noted that there is no cap on the two salaries currently being paid to ministers and allowances. She cited Mark Brantley and Vance Amory as examples.
Leader of the Opposition Dr. Denzil Douglas said in his presentation during the budget debates in December that the government with the slashing of a number of taxes including zero rating several out items from the Value Added Tax (VAT) would subject the government to increasing taxes in other areas.
Liburd criticized the government for not capping the frequent trips being undertaken by government ministers.,” s
“No cap on family businesses and no cap on family trips, that are either state funded or under the patronage of the state,” she said. “The nurses can’t get their pay but there is a cap on their salaries so that they can’t get paid for their Bachelor’s.”
