BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – SENIOR opposition parliamentarian Hon. Shawn Richards is calling out the Douglas administration for its failure to meet deadlines in passing critical pieces of legislation.
With the November implementation of Value-Added Tax (VAT), Prime Minister Hon. Dr. Denzil Douglas had set a May target for passing legislation that would outline conditions and requirements of the new sales tax.
The House was also supposed to consider a bill meant to facilitate the Federation’s entry into the OECS Economic Union, which will come into effect on June 18.
However, with one deadline passed and another fast approaching, the government has yet to circulate any of these bills for even a first reading. The House will convene on Friday, June 11 at 10 a.m. and Richards expects that these items would be on the day’s agenda.
He said that even if both bills were passed in Friday’s session, it would demonstrate the government’s lack of foresight and accountability in the legislative process.
“These are points that have to be raised. Public understanding of the new legislation is of paramount importance.”
“The government knew since March that these were dates they had to meet. If they had planned properly and vetted these issues in the public, they would not be scrambling right now,” he explained.
The lawmaker claimed that persons had not been thoroughly educated about VAT and the OECS Economic Union. He reasoned that the government should wait until there was full public comprehension on these issues and not rush to pass the two bills in one parliament sitting.
“The public knows nothing about the OECS Economic Union – what it’s about, what its effects on them will be and what new requirements they will have to meet.
“Similarly, the PM indicated that the VAT legislation would be passed by May. We are in June and it’s still not there. With the delay in bringing it to the House, as well as the fact that so many persons have said November is too soon to implement the VAT, I hope the government will revise that November target,” Richards said.
Richards stressed that the success of the VAT legislation would be determined by the everyday businesses and consumers. He noted that if they did not feel engaged and informed in the process, the VAT would be labelled as a failure.
SKNVibes spoke to Minister of Education and Information Hon. Nigel Carty, who said things were “on-track” and reassured of the government’s commitment to fulfilling its obligations.
Carty also said that he saw no reason why the VAT implementation deadline would be extended past November.
