News
Government watching, Tax Breaks & Concessions could be extended, says Premier
By Deandrea Hamilton
Editor
#TurksandCaicos, November 23, 2022 – The government is watching consumer pricing in Turks and Caicos supplier markets and according to Washington Misick, TCI Premier the move to cut taxes on imports and cap costs on fuel surcharges is a measure poised to be extended.
“I don’t want to pre-empt the decision by Cabinet, but I believe it is fair to accept that to the extent that that prices continue to rise and to the extent that, until we are able to do something with the living wage, we will be making every effort to assist consumers by holding down the prices.”
The matter of the dreadfully high cost of living arose as among the first concerns of residents who turned up at the Gus Lightbourne Gym for the government hosted public meeting on Monday night.
“We don’t actually have a price control law in place. What we prefer to do is to provide that support to consumers by way of subsidizing critical imports however there are many ways that the issue of cost of living is being addressed by the government.”
Turning to his Border Services minister, Arlington Musgrove, the premier announced there is a planned extension to
The concession took effect on April 1 for a period of 12 months.
“Only today, we agreed to extend – a policy decision made six months ago, to remove the duties including taking off the CPF a whole basket of goods, that is being extended for a further six months, if I am not mistaken,” he said on Monday in the second of a series of roving public meetings.
Residents want more however, fearing that the duty free concessions which were added to the Food & Fuel Tax break are not being passed down by retailers. The premier admitted to similar concerns and agreed that government must find a way to track how the concessions meant for consumers are actually experienced by them. Until then, the government is having to get creative so that the consumers feel the savings and assistance.
“What has happened is that the government realised that we can’t control the transfer of savings through customs duties that we might have given to the merchant. Because of the absence of the ability (because of our tax structure) to literally examine people’s books and see what is going on, we can’t control whether they are passing those savings on.”
The PNP Administration, this summer announced a second plan to buffer the hard-hitting costs of consumables. A $16 Million concession was rolled out and included duty exemption to all residents bringing goods in for their households and a duty free list of food items which resulted in savings at local grocers. Residents also received a $1,000 cash stimulus and eventually benefitted from a $2.5 million Fuel Factor Stabilization Credit which resulted in a dramatic drop in energy bills.
The Government agreed to cap the fuel factor rate, which is being driven by high oil prices, paying the excess and saving FortisTCI customers hundreds of dollars at a time.
“Electricity now on your bill, you would notice, the fuel factor is something like about 30 cents or more, I’m not quite sure but we have capped to a maximum of 20 cents and that goes until the end of December, and the government has subsidised that directly to the consumer to the tune of $2.5M at least.”
The pace of this historic inflationary season is also challenging for governments; Turks and Caicos, like others is experiencing around an 11 per cent inflation rate, while salaries remain stagnant and as living costs, food and other commodities including fuel have surged to record-setting levels.