VAT measures killing commerce – Jagdeo
… as top PPP officials visit 3 ECD markets
Visits to the Mahaica, Annandale and Mon Repos municipal markets, on the East Coast of Demerara, on Saturday by Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo and other Members of Parliament, unearthed a number of problems being experienced by market vendors and residents of those communities.
The team, which also included Opposition Members of Parliament Irfaan Ali and Anil Nandlall, heard the concerns expressed by market vendors. A prevailing concern from stallholders of these East Coast markets was a decline in sales.
Speaking after the outreach, Jagdeo expressed the need for a more relaxed Value Added Tax (VAT) policy. He stated that what the current policy did was leave more and more people and by extension the economy, deprived of money.
“That’s the uniform concern expressed everywhere that I’ve gone. I was at Leonora, Mahaica, Annandale and Mon Repos; but I’ve also visited markets in Mabaruma and different parts of Berbice.”
“And this is precisely what we’re arguing, that if the Government takes so much money out of the system, it sucks all of these resources from people’s pockets through increased taxes. Take VAT, we believe they have collected net $21 billion more than people paid on VAT last year. That comes from people’s pockets.”
According to Jagdeo, this reduces demand for goods and services on a nationwide scale. The economist explained that this reflected in the reduced sales in the market, shops, the taxi drivers plying their trade and other enterprises.
“The fishermen, the meat and vegetable sellers, the farmers, it affects the whole country. Even the stores in the city, you can see this. So the Government needs to focus more on stimulating economic activities.”
Jagdeo urged that should the economy and consumer spending be stimulated, problems being experienced with unemployment and the exchange rate will be eradicated.
