UNC leader: 7% online tax illegal

This was asserted by United National Congress political leader, Kamla Persad-Bissessar at the party’s public meeting on Friday night at Fyzabad Secondary School.

Persad-Bissessar told her hundreds of supporters in the hall, she received the White Paper of a Finance Bill, that is to be debated in Parliament on Wednesday, which contains provisions for an “online tax” which would negatively affect the people of Trinidad and Tobago.

“The Minister said they would have online taxing on credit card payments and so on...It is not a tax on the online items that you buy, it is a tax on anything, any item that comes in by air freight into Trinidad and Tobago. so if your family, we all have family abroad and it is Christmas time and people send gifts...even though you are not paying for it, it is a gift coming in from your relative. Online tax? Lies. It is a tax on every single thing coming in the air.” The second thing of note in the Finance Bill, according to the Persad-Bissessar, is the tax applies not just to the cost of the item, but to the freight costs and insurance as well. “So when you think it was seven percent on the cost of the items, lies,” said the former prime minister.

She also questioned the legality of the seven percent online purchase tax which was implemented on October 20.

“I got my White Paper for Parliament on Wednesday and there is a bill called the Finance Bill to debate on Wednesday in Parliament in which they are asking the Parliament to approve what they are calling an online tax, but that was announced and came into effect when? 20the of October, you all remember that?” Persad-Bissessar continued, “so have they been collecting this online tax illegally without law, because why am I being asked to come to parliament on Wednesday to vote to approve the online tax?” According to previous reports, Legal Notice No 163 covering the online purchase tax was published in Parliament on October 19 and this, it was said, made the tax fully legal. Attempts to reach Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi for clarification were unsuccessful.