High border taxes are incentive for corruption and a deterrent to business expansion, UPP Political Leader says

Reducing border taxes is one way of eliminating corruption and the “beat the system mentality” that now exists within the business sector, says the United Progressive Party (UPP).

Political Leader of the Party Harold Lovell says the UPP intends to change this business culture by incentivizing and stimulating the private sector in order to create sustainable growth.

While the Gaston Browne Administration continues to boast about growing the economy, Lovell says that businesses have not been feeling it. Accordingly, he is again pushing for the removal of the Unincorporated Business Tax.

Impediments like these taxes are stifling the business climate, Lovell says, and the Labour Party Government has no plans or vision to improve the economic situation for business owners.

This is one of the main reasons that many people find ways to beat the system, he explains, and therefore the cost of doing business at the Port should be reduced.

At present, most people pay approximately 50 percent of the value of their goods in customs duties and taxes – split among the Revenue Recovery Charge (RRC), the Antigua and Barbuda Sales Tax (ABST), and other Customs duties.

Lovell, a former Minister of Finance, says that Government needs to free up the environment by removing these types of impediments on persons going into business or trying to build their business.

Based on discussions he has had, Lovell says border taxes should not exceed 35 percent. And he promises that a UPP Administration will ensure that this is the case here, so that corruption can be eliminated.