11 bills tabled for budget measures

In order to bring into effect the various new tax measures included in the 2017 Budget, Minister of Finance, Winston Jordan on Tuesday took 11 new bills to the National Assembly and had them read for the first time, along with six new papers.

The Bills read for the first time were the Motor Vehicles and Road Traffic (Amendment) Bill, the Customs (Amendment) Bill, the Value-Added Tax (Amendment) Bill, Capital Gains Tax (Amendment) Bill, Corporation Tax (Amendment) Bill, Income Tax (In Aid of Industry) (Amendment) Bill, Income Tax (Amendment) Bill, Intoxicating Liquor Licensing (Amendment) Bill, Miscellaneous Licences (Amendment) Bill, Tax (Amendment) Bill, and Travel Voucher Tax (Amendment) Bill.

The papers presented were the Travel Tax Regulations, Value-Added Tax (Amendment) Regulations, Customs (Amendment) Regulations, Excise Tax (Amendment of Schedules) Regulations, Customs (Amendment of Schedules) Order, and Value-Added Tax (Amendment of Schedules) Order.

While the Government is being heavily criticized for the new measures to be introduced, it has boasted through its Department of Public Information, that the new tax measures will pump $9.5B into the economy.

It was claimed that the reduction of the Value Added Tax from 16% to 14% alone will dent the National Treasury by $4.8B, while the loss from the reduction in Personal Income Tax will cost another $3.8B.