Finance Minister Davendranath Tancoo says the Government will review what happens to imported alcohol.
On Monday, Minister Tancoo said under the new rates, duties on rum and spirits will rise from $79.25 to $158.50 per cent of alcohol content; beer from $5.14 to $10.28 by gravity; and cigarettes from $5.26 to $10.52 per pack of 20.
“We are reviewing what happens with imported alcohol with a view of re-establishing the buffer as close as possible. That’s the first thing. So we are looking at the issue even further. We couldn’t take the actions because a lot more time is required, a lot more research is required as to how to do it without violating our international arrangements. Two, we continue to support the local industry in a multiplicity of ways, and that will continue. And three, if you disaggregate what we have put down on the books as increased charges and fees and duties etcetera, the impact on the individual bottle of beer, for lack of another comparator, is very small.”
Speaking at a Post Budget panel discussion on Tuesday, he explained the rationale behind the decision.
Minister Tancoo also defended the implementation of a ‘Landlord Business Surcharge’ which he said is totally different from the proposed Property Tax from the former administration.
“But you will be charged a rate of taxation on your residence as if you were generating an income. That, I thought, and our government thought, was a fraudulent method of taxation, because those were private residences. Your private residences were not generating an income, but you were being charged on an income not being generated, on a ghost income. There are lots of ghosts in this country. The Landlord Business Surcharge is different. The Landlord Business Surcharge is a charge on income generated from rental properties. That is what this is. It’s not a charge on fake income. It’s a charge on actual income.