TCIG Comes Through!  Duty Free & Duty Exemption Extended beyond Nov 30

By Deandrea Hamilton & Dana Malcolm

Editorial Staff

#TurksandCaicos, December 1, 2022 – Turks and Caicos Islanders can breathe a sigh of relief after confirmation came  from Deputy Premier E Jay Saunders late Wednesday following a full day of Cabinet meeting; the Price Inflation  Stimulus, which provides tax exemptions on bread basket items will in fact be extended.

“It was extended in Cabinet today.  We just left Cabinet.  It was a very long day,” shared the finance minister in response to our queries late on deadline day November 30, who added that the Government is committed to staving off the harshness of the inflation crisis.  “We’re here for the people,” said Saunders.

The decision was not a complete surprise as Arlington Musgrove, Minister of Immigration and Border Services which includes the Department of Customs  had given soft confirmation to our news organisation much earlier in the day.  He said the special tax break, instituted during summer, would not expire on November 30.

“Yes, it will continue,” said Musgrove as he confirmed the continuation would be on the Price Inflation Stimulus which includes duty free bread basket items.

For many, it is what they had desperately hoped for, as prices stubbornly continued to rise over the last three months offering no relief.  The possibility of losing the tax exemptions on items like cereal breads and cleaning supplies would have been a hard blow, especially as the holidays are here.

Shopping abroad is also popular at this time of year; offsetting the costliness of the Christmas holidays.  If the Prince Inflation Stimulus holds true to the original design, residents of Turks and Caicos will still be able to benefit from a duty exemption concession when they return with goods bought out of the country.

Initiated in August, the Price Inflation Stimulus was passed into law after public outcry about the high prices at the supermarket checkout earlier this year and while there were some snags in getting the process started, for the most part it has helped to lower residents’ grocery bills. It had been slated to expire on Wednesday November 30th.

The Government had repeatedly hinted that an extension was possible.

On November 21st the Premier spoke at a town hall meeting in Providenciales indicating that the government was looking at lengthening one of the current tax exemptions but then he could have meant any one of them. There are currently three in effect.

One cutting government taxes on fuel at the pump and food at the border.  Another capping the fuel factor rate on electricity bills which has meant hundreds of dollars in savings and this one, which eliminates the duty on 24 bread basket items and gives duty exemption on goods purchased abroad by returning residents.

“I don’t want to preempt the decision of cabinet but I believe it’s fair to expect that to the extent that the prices continue to rise and until we are able to do something with the living wage we will be making every effort to assist consumers by holding down prices to those basic goods,” said Premier Misick, who also went on to share the subsidising of electricity bills could also be extended beyond December 31, 2022.

His words have now proven true, at least in the case of the Food & Fuel Tax Break and the Price Inflation Stimulus, it seems.  Combined, the pair of intervention measures to ‘cushion the blow of record high inflation’ is a tax write off of $31 million.

It is now expected that a more official announcement will come to confirm what Government is giving, what it will cost the public purse and how long it will last.