Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance, Professor Biman Prasad says the Capital Gains Tax exemption on shares brought in by the previous government was probably one of the most devious and corrupt pieces of legislation ever to have come to parliament and they had opposed it at the time.
While speaking on fijivillage Straight Talk With Vijay Narayan, Professor Prasad says how can you do that to somebody who owes taxes and has not paid, and then you bring a law, backdate it and say you now don’t have to pay.
He says the law was changed to benefit those that did not pay their Capital Gains Tax on shares to be exempt from paying the tax, and those that paid their taxes on time did not gain anything.
He says since that law came into effect, others have also used that law to be exempted from paying the tax.
Professor Prasad says the coalition government has tabled a consequential legislation to remove the tax exemption on Capital Gains Tax on shares as it was meant for one company and as a result of that bad policy, they would have lost about $70 million in government revenue by the end of this month.
He also says they are not going to be run by a cabal or an interest group, and their policies are not going to be for particular groups or particular interests.
