Government’s tax reform committee has proposed sweeping changes that include a lower VAT rate and an intermediate rate, an income tax threshold of $750,000 with progressive rates of taxation from 20% to 35%, reintroduction of estate duties and levies on tobacco and alcohol.
Submitted to Minister of Finance Winston Jordan on January 18, days before the 2016 budget presentation, the proposals will ramp up pressure on the APNU+AFC administration to stick by pre-election commitments such as lowering the VAT rate and also give it an opening for mid-year adjustments to the tax regime.
The 133-page report also backed the implementation of the presumptive tax which was rife with controversy from its inception. Discussing self-employed persons, the National Tax Reform Committee (TRC) proposed that a withholding tax (not a final tax) of between 5% and 10% be imposed on all contract services, “other than employment”. It has also proposed the
