3 How can Government assist in overcoming this challenge?
What we have outlined as Tourism’s key opportunities:
Expansion of existing investments and attraction of new investment given the right investment environment;
Bolstering the agricultural sector and cutting down on imports within a framework of support for agri-tourism and market creation;
Remaining a competitive, successful tourist destination;
Continuing to support communities by providing employment and driving investment in infrastructure, health and education; and
Leading the charge on environmental sustainability by pioneering closed waste management systems and promoting environmental programmes.
We are not against paying taxes and understand these are needed, but believe the taxes can be lowered and applied more equitably. So based on the size of your business, if your turnover is low, the applied formula should mean you pay reasonable taxes, if your turnover is higher, you pay higher taxes and we have made recommendations on this formula*.
We also believe that as the major industry that has been concerned about the environment because the industry is based on having a beautiful country today and into the future; we have been unfairly targeted with the Environment & Climate Adaptation Levy (ECAL) which is 10 per cent. Our members do their own protection programmes, recycling, replanting and reusing. We are asking for some fairness here as well. Reduce the levy and spread the application of the levy to other industries that impact the environment. These include transport, manufacturing and industrial businesses. Done correctly, the lower rate but wider net would mean higher revenue is collected by Government. Create a tiered STT (Service Turnover Tax) and ECAL tax structure
Implement a tiered (i.e. progressive) STT and ECAL tax structure so that companies pay a larger percentage of tax as they grow in size.
Implement this by way of a tax rebate for either the first $1.25M per year of the first $100,000 of revenue per month. Clawback lost STT and ECAL revenue by widening the ECAL scope to more industries. Treat the STT and ECAL taxes similar to VAT with an ‘STT in / STT out’ and an ‘ECAL in / ECAL out’ calculations added to the VMS.