The Stabroek News of Friday January 6, 2017, reported that two parliamentary representatives of the PPP\/C criticised but abstained from voting on an amendment to the Value-Added Tax giving the Commissioner General the right to prevent persons, through the Chief Immigration Officer, from leaving the country once they owed VAT.<\/p>\n
And in the letter columns of the Stabroek News of January 7, former Attorney General, Mr Anil Nandlall returns to the issue with a reasoned argument whether the amendment violates the Constitution and is therefore void (\u2018Section 45 of the VAT Act is unconstitutional\u2019).<\/p>\n
This is interesting because in 1993 then PPP\/C Finance Minister, Mr Asgar Ally inserted by way of an amendment to section 71 of the Income Tax Act a new provision that is arguably more dangerous than the APNU+AFC\u2019s amended VAT provision. Taking Mr Nandlall\u2019s argument, it means that the PPP\/C\u2019s amendment to the Income Tax Act is, at best, on the same tenuous constitutional ground as the APNU+AFC\u2019s amendment to the VAT legislation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Stabroek News of Friday January 6, 2017, reported that two parliamentary representatives of the PPP\/C criticised but abstained from voting on an amendment to the Value-Added Tax giving the Commissioner General the right to prevent persons, through the Chief Immigration Officer, from leaving the country once they owed VAT. And in the letter columns … <\/p>\n