{"id":7702,"date":"2020-10-09T11:08:22","date_gmt":"2020-10-09T15:08:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/martingeorge.net\/?p=7702"},"modified":"2020-10-09T11:08:22","modified_gmt":"2020-10-09T15:08:22","slug":"tobago-chamber-make-tobago-vat-free-zone-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/martingeorge.net\/v2\/index.php\/2020\/10\/09\/tobago-chamber-make-tobago-vat-free-zone-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Tobago Chamber: Make Tobago VAT-free zone"},"content":{"rendered":"

With Budget Day set for October 5, the Tobago Business Chamber is proposing several ways in which the Government can stimulate Tobago\u2019s economy.<\/p>\n

One such proposal is to make Tobago a VAT-free zone.<\/p>\n

In a WhatsApp voice note on the Chamber\u2019s budget proposal, chairman Martin George said changing the island\u2019s VAT-status is not a new proposal as the Chamber \u201cfloated\u201d the idea before.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are requesting that Tobago be made a totally VAT-free zone. It is not impossible. You have places like Panama, where they have within the country a declared duty-free zone. We think that will also help to stimulate greater investment in Tobago.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said the initiative would be attractive to retirees searching for a lower standard of living.<\/p>\n

The Chamber president also proposed the \u201ccomplete and unconditional removal\u201d of the Foreign Investment legislation.<\/p>\n

He said the legislation has \u201ccrippled and stiffed all forms of direct foreign investment into Tobago. We need to see that legislation totally repealed. It has been the greatest albatross around the neck of Tobago.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to the Foreign Investment Act (FIA) 1990, foreign investors can own 100 per cent of a private company. However, they can only acquire 30 per cent of a public company unless they receive a license from the government.<\/p>\n

For residential land greater than one acre and commercial land greater than five acres, they must obtain a license.<\/p>\n

To further stimulate the economy, the Chamber\u2019s chairman also proposed a \u201cmandatory local contractor input in all mega projects\u201d undertaken by the government.<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cWe don\u2019t want just 10 per cent labour input, we want sub-contractors. There must be at least 10 per cent of your local contract being for the local contractor, so they get a chance to learn the skills set.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Chamber also wants the Government to begin construction on the mariner it proposed; faster processing and payment of COVID Relief Grants to employees and businesses in the accommodation sector.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

By: Camille Mceachnie<\/div>\n
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With Budget Day set for October 5, the Tobago Business Chamber is proposing several ways in which the Government can stimulate Tobago\u2019s economy. One such proposal is to make Tobago a VAT-free zone. In a WhatsApp voice note on the Chamber\u2019s budget proposal, chairman Martin George said changing the island\u2019s VAT-status is not a new proposal as the Chamber \u201cfloated\u201d the idea before. \u201cWe are requesting that Tobago be made a totally VAT-free zone. It is not impossible. You have places like Panama, where they have within the country a declared duty-free zone. We think that will also help to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sitemap_exclude":false,"_sitemap_priority":"","_sitemap_frequency":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[102],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7702","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tobago-business-chamber"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/martingeorge.net\/v2\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7702","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/martingeorge.net\/v2\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/martingeorge.net\/v2\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/martingeorge.net\/v2\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/martingeorge.net\/v2\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7702"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/martingeorge.net\/v2\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7702\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/martingeorge.net\/v2\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7702"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/martingeorge.net\/v2\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7702"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/martingeorge.net\/v2\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7702"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}