CMC - The St. Lucia government says it is in the process of re-drafting the Value added Tax (VAT) legislation that was introduced here in 2012.
Prime Minister and Minister for Finance, Dr. Kenny D. Anthony, told Parliament that the re-draft would seek to deal with issues regarding the payment and collection of taxes.
He was responding to a statement by former housing minister, Richard Frederick, that the government should consider that contracts handed out by government, should be VAT free in order to simplify the process.
“If you are handing out a contract and as a government you have to pay the contractor VAT, and then make an intense effort to collect it back, I believe that is an exercise in futility,” Frederick said.
Prime Minister Anthony agreed, stating that it has been a “troubling issue” for the Ministry of Finance.
“I want to reassure the member for Castries Central, that the Ministry of Finance has been looking into this issue to see how best we could resolve it, so that what appears to be logical because of the legislation is not rendered illogical by the very procedure it forces you to adopt,” he said.
“The member is absolutely correct. We need to find a way to deal with it. We are in that process and I’m hoping that it will be [resolved] in the New Year,” Anthony said.
Until October 2012, St. Lucia was the only member state within the seven-member Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) yet to implement the 15 percent VAT.