Consumer Council of Fiji Chief Executive Officer Premila Kumar has said the 2016/2017 National Budget has turned out to be a forward looking budget and very neutral as it will not hurt consumers.
Cigarettes, tobacco and alcohol will attract an increased tax of 15 percent from today. This rate of increase will continue for the next 3 years.
Excise tax for sugar sweetened drinks has also been increased by 20 cents per litre.
Machines linked to supermarket cash registers will be deployed this year to ensure that there is tax compliance.
The Water Resource Tax has also gone up. It will go up from 0.11 cents to 1 cent per litre for extraction of up to 3.49 million litres of water per month and increase from 15 cents to 18 cents per litre for extraction of 3.5 million litres of water and above per month.
A series of disposals of principal place of residence will now be subject to Capital Gains Tax.
Service Turnover Tax and Environmental Levy will also be charged on bus companies that engage in the carriage of tourists.
VAT will now be applicable on business of dealing in residential accommodation rentals exceeding a threshold of $100,000 a year.
Meanwhile, Kumar said the increase in budget allocated to the council shows the commitment from the government towards consumer protection. Kumar said with an allocation of $1.3 million to the council, they will be able to boost their services to consumers.
The Consumer Council of Fiji was allocated $150,000 in last year’s budget.
