Plans to introduce Value Added Tax in the territory were announced by UK chancellor George Osborne as part of the Budget in March this year.
However, there is substantial opposition to the move and a new organisation, The Turks and Caicos Independent Business Council (TCIBC) led by prominent businessman and QC Clive Stanbrook, has been established to fight the plans.
In a statement released late yesterday, Stanbrook said: “We are sending a clear message to the British Government. It is the view of virtually the entire business community in the Turks and Caicos that a VAT tax is inappropriate, costly, cumbersome and unnecessary at this stage in the development of these Islands. In the short term it is clear that the existing taxation systems can be relied upon to raise such extra revenue as may be needed.”
The statement added that, as business professionals the group “does not have a problem with taxation” and the “need to fund government”, but does have a “major problem with the particular type of tax and its inappropriate nature for theses specific islands”.
