Vincentians will enjoy VAT-free shopping on Dec. 19, Prime Minister Godwin Friday has announced.
“We will continually look for ways to ease the economic burden that is being borne by our people. Where there are challenges, we intend not to succumb, but to overcome them,” he said as he made the announcement on Tuesday, at the swearing in of the new cabinet in Arnos Vale.
In the campaign for the Nov. 27 general election, which Friday’s New Democratic Party (NDP) won by taking 14 of the 15 parliamentary seats, the party had promised two VAT-free shopping days each year – on the first Monday in August and December.
However, it was not possible for a VAT-free shopping day to have taken place this month as the government was not fully in place on the first Monday in December.
In his speech on Tuesday, the prime minister said the magnitude of the victory that the NDP secured at the polls “signals that there’s a widespread and intense desire for change in our country”, adding that the yearning that was answered in part by the vote.
“But I believe this yearning for change is not merely a need to change a government and replace it with another. It goes much deeper. It is a change for the country in the way we are governed and the way we accept how we are governed,” Friday said.
“It is a change in the way we relate to one another, how we work beside and with one another, how we live in our communities, and the way in which we exercise our differences and still can be a community.”
He said the election results also signal a change in the expectations of Vincentians.
“They believe — that is to say, you believe — that better is possible, and you are prepared to do what you can to make it happen, not only to improve our material circumstances, but also to lift our spirits, to expand our vision of our country and our role within it, to put God at the center of all things, lifting up our country in prayer.”
The prime minister said that he has learnt from his interaction with the people over the years and more recently during the election campaign that Vincentians are concerned about the high cost of living and the difficulty of making ends meet.
They are also concerned about “the lack of jobs and the low wages that are paid, about violent crime, especially gun-related homicides that destroy lives and families and communities, of the poor health care that you wish to see improve, you tell us about the poor infrastructure, such as roads, bridges and drains, the gutters and the public buildings that you wish to see remedied”.
Friday said he and his cabinet are committed to addressing these concerns, noting that the government is committed to reducing VAT and to having VAT-free shopping days.
The NDP had said since 2020 that if elected to office, it would reduce VAT from 16 to 13%.
Now is the time when calypsonians should be singing about the ULP loss. ULP politicians are going around claiming they are the ones who championed different government initiatives. Claiming all the good things happening in the country are their legacy. Well, that election loss is really being felt, their heads are spinning.
Man, cancel the discriminatory duty-free Christmas barrel programme, which favours the wealthy who have families overseas, if you want to increase economic activity and help poor people.