2018/19 Budget Communication 2018_2019 BUDGET COMMUNICATION | Page 105

Most substantially Mr. Speaker, the Government is
proposing an increase in the rate of Value Added Tax from
the current 7.5 percent to 12 percent effective July 1 st .
Mr. Speaker,
Our Government fully appreciates the sacrifice that
the substantial increases in the VAT rate and other taxes will
represent for our citizens. But as I have repeatedly said on
record: this Government was elected to do what is right for
the welfare of the country and not to do what is politically
expedient or politically popular.
Facing the situation that
we have, we could do as governments have done before –
and simply present a misleading budget with under-budgeted
allocations and hidden obligations. We could have kicked
the can down the road and borrowed some more – delaying
the inevitable day of reckoning.
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By playing this game we