Parliament has today concluded the debate on the bill on amendment to Goods and Services Tax and forwarded it to the committee for review.
Parliament has today concluded the debate on the bill on amendment to Goods and Services Tax and forwarded it to the committee for review.
The amendment proposes raising tourism GST to 17 percent next year.
The bill was submitted by ruling People's National Congress (PNC)'s MP for Maafannu West Mohamed Musthafa.
As per the bill, the current 16 percent TGST will be charged until the end of May, 2025. From June 2025 onwards, the TGST will be raised to 17 percent, it says. With this, the government revenue will increase by MVR 200 million.
In the vote taken to accept the bill to parliament, 52 MPs voted in favour, with 7 voting against.
As it is a tax bill, the bill will be reviewed by Committee of the Whole House. Deputy Speaker of Parliament Ahmed Nazim who was chairing today's sitting said that if the work on agenda is completed tomorrow, then he intends to hold the committee meeting after the sitting.
While debate on the bill was held today, most government aligned MPs spoke positively of the tax amendment, emphasizing that it is a key measure that needs to be taken. However, opposition members criticized the bill, stating that the government had previously claimed it would not raise taxes.
In addition to this bill, the government has also submitted amendments to Green Tax and Airport Charge. Debates were held on these as well in parliament today.
The government has previously said that although efforts would be made to broaden the tax base, GST and TGST would not be increased.
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