Chaudhry and Prasad talk about reducing VAT but that is the only thing they talk about - Sayed-Khaiyum

Minister for Economy Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum say NFP Leader Professor Biman Prasad and FLP Leader Mahendra Chaudhry are going around saying Government should reduce VAT but that is the only thing they talk about however Prasad says Sayed-Khaiyum is desperate which is why he is going around the country making power-point presentations that is confusing the people even more and camouflaging his mismanagement of the economy.

This is after a man asked Sayed-Khaiyum during the budget consultation at Tavarau Primary School in Ba if Government will be reducing VAT because the prices of a number of goods are going up due to freight costs.

While responding to the man, Sayed-Khaiyum says Chaudhry and Prasad also talk about reducing the VAT but they do not talk about things like the cost of education.

In his response, Prasad says Sayed-Khaiyum should realize that NFP has been advocating for a decrease in VAT since 2014.

He says the Attorney General took the NFP’s proposal on board and reduced the VAT but then slapped a 9% VAT on basic food items which put more pressure on struggling families.

Prasad says instead of explaining all this and admitting his failure, Sayed-Khaiyum is confusing the people even more.

FLP Leader Mahendra Chaudhry says the cost of living has hit the roof and people just cannot afford the rise in prices.

He says Sayed-Khaiyum brought VAT back on basic food items in 2016 and this made food expensive.

Chaudhry says people need food on the table and every government did what they could for education and gradually free education was going to be their aim.

Meanwhile the man at the consultations in Ba also said that since the price of goods is going up, the VAT on the items will also be more.

He has asked Sayed-Khaiyum if Government is looking at reducing the VAT to cushion the blow.

While responding to the man, Sayed-Khaiyum says the VAT in 2016 was 12.5% and there were 6 items which were VAT free.

He says they brought the VAT down from 12.5% to 9% on everything because people do not live on just those 6 items and they need other things too.

Sayed-Khaiyum says he agrees with the man that if the price of an item goes up, then the VAT on the item will also go up because VAT is based on the price of the item.

However he says Government will not get any revenue if they zero-rated VAT on every item.