Business
St. Lucia: VAT effective Oct 1st
He said it is with that kind of challenge in mind that government has had to face the “inevitable implementation” of the Value Added Tax.
That prompted opposition senator and former agriculture minister Ezekiel Joseph to claim that the governing St. Lucia Labour Party had changed its position on VAT, claiming that Prime Minister Kenny Anthony once referred to it “as an oppressive tax” which his party never considered it as the wisest choice for St. Lucia.
The value added tax or general consumption tax is now common across CARICOM.
In early July, CARICOM associate member Turks and Caicos announced it will introduce VAT at 8 percent – the second-lowest rate in CARICOM, with Haiti’s rate at 10 percent, Suriname’s dual tax rate of 10 percent on goods and 8 percent on services, and just ahead of Belize at 12.5 percent.
The rates elsewhere in the region are: Antigua and Barbuda 15 percent; Barbados 17.5 percent; Dominica 15 percent; Grenada 15 percent; Guyana 16 percent; Jamaica 16.5 percent; St. Kitts and Nevis 17 percent; St Vincent and the Grenadines 15 percent; and Trinidad and Tobago 15 percent.
The Bahamas, which is not a member of CARICOM’s customs union or any of its economic arrangements, including the single market, is contemplating the introduction of the tax. -(CMC)
