King

CASTRIES, St Lucia, CMC – Prime Minister Stephenson King has denied suggestions that pending general elections due here by next year could have a bearing on when his administration introduces a new Valued Added Tax (VAT).

Countries in the Eastern Caribbean have long agreed on a joint position on the new tax, but St Lucia is yet to put a definitive timetable on when the tax will be introduced.

“General elections have absolutely no place in the timing of VAT,” King told reporters while in Grenada for the recent Eastern Caribbean Central Bank Monetary Council meeting.

“I think it is left to the government to determine the preparedness of the country. Are people fully sensitised even if you have been engaged in consultation with the various social partners,” he asked.

In recent times, both Grenada and St Kitts and Nevis delayed introducing VAT with pending general elections.

In Basseterre, the Denzil Douglas administration which was re-elected in January announced soon afterwards that VAT will be introduced before the end of the year. It has since said the rate will be 17 per cent.

In St Lucia, consultations have been held on the new tax regime for two and a half years, with no indication as to when it will be introduced.

“So the government is fully committed, the political will is there and certainly at the right moment we will introduce it,” King said.

The Cabinet has already approved the replacement tax on goods and services and King said preparations are being made to introduce the VAT legislation in Parliament.

“Once it has gone through Parliament then the final determination will be made in terms of when it comes into operation,” the Prime Minister said.

“But generally we are on target and I am hoping very soon we will be able to indicate how and when we will proceed,” he assured.

The introduction of the VAT is in keeping with a decision taken the Monetary Council of the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB) in 2003, following a recommendation by the tax commissioners from the nine-member Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS).

Since the decision of the Council, Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica and St. Vincent and Grenadines have already implemented VAT (or Antigua and Barbuda Sales Tax in St John’s), while St. Kitts and Nevis and St Lucia are preparing to do so soon.

Grenada implemented VAT earlier this year.

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