Minister of Natural Resources, Raphael Trotman says the Ministry is currently looking at various options that will “cancel out what is seen as an oppressive 14% VAT” on value-added forest products.
Speaking to Stabroek News on Wednesday after a community outreach in Lethem, Trotman said, “Any tax, whether it is 1 or 14% will be seen as being stressful and I believe that as we find fiscal discipline as a nation, we will find these complaints and 14% is not 16%.”
He pointed out that the Ministry is currently looking at other incentives that it can apply to the industry, particularly in relation to forest products, and one of them is restricting the importation of Pinewood.