VAT ‘right tax’

The man who spearheaded the implementation of the value added tax (VAT) more than 17 years ago has defended the levy as “the Rolls-Royce” of taxes and dismissed “lingering doubts” about its “appropriateness”.
Breaking his silence in the wake of contention sparked by recent criticism of the tax by Central Bank Governor Dr DeLisle Worrell, Merton C. Moore, who was head of the VAT Implementation Unit and director of VAT between January 1997 and January 2000, referred to “certain misconceptions being articulated by usually well-informed persons”.
Moore, in an analysis entitled A VAT For Barbados, said: “The value added tax is a comprehensive broad-based indirect tax on goods and services with the potential to provide adequate revenue for the Government while offering the business sector room to see inflows of income over periods in a usable manner before onward passage to Government.
“While I do not profess to be an expert on tax systems internationally, it is my considered opinion that as a member of the fleet of indirect taxes I have had the honour to administer at any level over three decades, the VAT is the Rolls-Royce of taxes. Treat it with intelligence, integrity, care and respect and it is likely to reciprocate.”