FIVE months after assuming office and following the delivery of her administration's first national budget, Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar has yet to remove the 7% online purchase tax, a measure she once fiercely condemned as "punitive" and "anti-business" under the previous PNM government.
In 2016, during the introduction of the online tax by then-finance minister Colm Imbert, Persad-Bissessar denounced the policy, arguing it would "further the financial pressures on emerging entrepreneurs, existing SMEs and enterprising citizens". She stated clearly the measure unfairly punished ordinary citizens and small businesses that depend on online purchases for supplies and efficiency.
Today, however, despite holding the power to act, her administration continues to collect the very tax she opposed.
This inconsistency raises serious questions about the policy credibility and economic priorities of the current Government. If the Prime Minister truly believed the tax was unjust and burdensome, why has it remained untouched under her leadership?
The continued existence of the 7% levy suggests one of two things:
1. That the Government now recognises its importance to revenue collection, despite prior criticism; or
2. That the administration has failed to follow through on its commitment to ease the cost of living and support small and medium-sized enterprises.
Either explanation exposes a clear contradiction between words and action. The people of Trinidad and Tobago deserve transparency on this issue, especially at a time when cost-of-living pressures continue to rise.
It is also worth recalling that the 7% tax was originally projected to raise approximately $70 million annually from online purchases, revenue the then-opposition deemed negligible compared to its economic harm. If that argument held true then, why does it not apply now?
The Prime Minister must therefore clarify her Government's position:
* Will the 7% online tax be repealed, reduced, or replaced?
* Or does the UNC Government now stand behind the same policy it once condemned?
True leadership demands consistency, not convenience. If the 7% online tax was wrong under Colm Imbert, it cannot suddenly be right under Kamla Persad-Bissessar.
David Steed
Debe