Senate passes Budget

In his wrap-up, Finance Minister, Colm Imbert, stuck to his guns to introduce a seven percent tax on online purchases saying this fad now results in 32 cents being lost to a country’s economy out of every $1 spent.

He said online shopping does nothing to boost local economic activity such as generating jobs, as he cited a Canadian study, “The impact of online shipping on local businesses”.

He said, “It contributes to a massive economic leakage. Those dollars have little chance to circulate”.

Imbert vowed that foreign companies operating in TT energy sector will be probed for any undue tax avoidance, such as done by the device of transfer-pricing whereby an exporter sells a hydrocarbon cargo to an affiliate at a higher cost than the original low cost that the initial purchaser quotes to this country.