DRP would not vote for the GST Bill: Deputy Leader

Divehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP), the main opposition party in the Maldives, has said that they would not vote in favor of the government proposed bill on General Sales Tax Bill to be voted on next Monday.

Ahmed Mohamed, Deputy Leader of DRP said last night that there was a parliamentary group meeting during yesterday afternoon to discuss the matter. He said that members of the parliamentary group decided not to vote for the bill because the Majlis in a committee sitting had decided to start acting upon the bill as soon as it is passed.

Ahmed said that the bill should be held from implementation after it is passed at least for 6 months. He said that they had tried to convince the ruling MDP to agree to the condition, although the ruling party wanted to start implementation right away.

The GST bill, as it is now, requires that any business that produces an income of 1 million Rufiyaa per annum should pay GST. Ahmed said that this would mean that almost all small businesses would fall into the category of those who must pay GST. “That would be an unbearable burden for small businesses. They need time, for such things as install point of sales machines and systems for recording documents. Hence, we cannot support the bill to go on as per the current plans”, Ahmed said.

Ahmed further said that DRP would keep in mind the interests of the people first, and that the party would not agree to anything detrimental to public interests. He also called upon other opposition sides to vote against the bill on Monday.

Ahmed said that DRP had long followed a policy of not supporting income tax bills. “Our leader Ahmed Tasmin Ali informed President Nasheed of our stand on the matter when he met with him, and we haven’t changed our stance”, said Ahmed.

Ahmed also said that DRP would support the bill on reduction of import duties.