A Government official has said that it was proving difficult to put together promised legislation on the renewable energy sector.
Players in the sector said on Wednesday that they were concerned that proposed changes to the law to facilitate some of the tax incentives for the sector were taking too long.
The concerns were raised by members of the audience during the question and answer segment of the Barbados Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s June luncheon at Hilton Barbados.
Last year, Minister of Finance Christopher Sinckler announced that the government would provide a range of incentives for commercial property owners, producers of renewable energy systems and individuals.
However, William Hinds, chief energy conservation officer in the Energy and Telecommunications Division, in responding to the concerns, said up to 2010 there were over nine incentives in place that were “working” and that changes to legislation would come but some of those changes were proving to be difficult.
Legislative changes are expected to be made to the Income Tax Act, the Electricity Act as well as the Value Added Tax Act.
“The tax incentives that were announced in 2012 were quite significant and what immediately happened in advanced of the [amendments to the] legislation was that the Minister of Finance did write directly to the customs on VAT asking for those agencies to begin to make amends for some of those incentives. So already people are getting the zero VAT on imports,” explained Hinds.
“The actual vision of the legislation which is to follow up has been challenging and we have been over it many, many times and we are near there but I can’t say when all of those 2012 incentives will be put into the legislation,” he added. (MM)
