Dear Editor,
I am enclosing a bill from a supermarket to highlight how businessmen are devising ways and means to take advantage of the many misinformed consumers concerning VAT.
Amongst the items bought at this entity some are VAT inclusive and exempted, but the bill revealed that all the goods were totalled up and then 16% was calculated and added. It means therefore that I have paid VAT on zero rated items.
I also purchased tennis rolls from a bakery in Garnett Street and discovered the significant decrease in the sizes of the commodity and the increase in the price.
Even at a fast food place the sizes, quality and quantity of items purchased have decreased whilst the price has increased.
I am highlighting these matters to alert the consumers, the GRA officers and the Minister of Trade to the unscrupulous behaviour of some businessmen.
Looking at these experiences, I am only left to believe that VAT is creating more problems than it had intended to solve and the opposite of the stated objectives is being achieved.
The cost of living has certainly risen and it is the poor people that are being exploited. It seems that the sensitization and education programmes have proven to be dismal failures.
The true message is being lost in the many skits that were aired.
They lack the simple basic information necessary to sensitize the general public on VAT, what it means, how it will affect the consumers, the zero-rated items and what to do when making purchases. This can be put in simple language.
I am not sure how the consumers in the rural and hinterland areas will be informed about VAT. Surely after seven days, VAT is synonymous with chaos and confusion.
Yours faithfully
D. Dyal
