Credit union to fight tax levy

A small credit union has started a campaign to force Government to remove a burdensome levy on the financial institutions.
The Endeavour Cooperative Credit Union has instructed its members to write letters to their Members of Parliament and to the newspapers against the measure announced in the Budget last August.
It wants members to “send a strong message to our Parliament” to oppose the imposed 0.2 per cent tax the entire credit union sector is strongly against.
In his Financial Statement And Budgetary Proposals, Minister of Finance Chris Sinckler announced that all financial institutions would have to pay a tax on their assets at the rate of 0.2 per cent for a prescribed period. That would translate to about $3.6 million over the period September 2013 to March 31, 2015.
The Barbados Cooperative Credit Union League, the umbrella body for the credit unions, was still awaiting a meeting with the Prime Minister in order to put its case to have the tax decision reversed since it would have a serious impact on credit unions. They might have to end up absorbing the expense, whether or not they had a surplus. (AC)