(Trinidad Express) Some TT$55 million worth of apples and grapes are imported to Trinidad and Tobago annually says Finance Minister Colm Imbert.
He disclosed this as the budget debate concluded in the Senate yesterday.
The national budget was passed with 22 votes in support from the Government and independent benches whilst the six Opposition Senators abstained.
In his contribution Imbert sought to correct misinformation as it relates to increased taxes on some imported foods.
He said he asked the Customs and Excise to tell him what is the CIF (Cost, Insurance, Freight) value of apples and grapes imported into Trinidad and Tobago.
He said it cost TT$55 million.
“So we import TT$55 million dollars worth of apple’s and grapes, almost TT$10 million US dollars… and I think that is something that we certainly need to control,” he said.
He said the average CIF price of a kilogram of grapes is TT$10.20.
Imbert said that is TT$4.64 cents per pound and by adding VAT, the cost will increase a pound of grapes by 58 cents.
“And I don’t think that is going to prevent apples and grapes from coming into this country,” he said.
He said in the case of apples, the price of a pound of apples will increase by 43 cents.
Imbert said he doesn’t think that imposing Value Added Tax on apples and grapes will create a situation where we won’t have any and where they are only available at Christmas time.
He said if he had to go into all the other luxury foods mentioned such as lobster, smoked salmon, strawberries, blueberries the import cost is to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars.
He said what Government is doing is simply imposing VAT.
He said the way the VAT system works at this time -unprocessed foods is VAT free and it doesn’t matter if it is lobster- it is the same as rice or cheese.
“That is a lacuna in the law as far as we are concerned that this broad category of unprocessed food is exempt from VAT,” he said.
Addressing the issue with respect to importation of vehicles Imbert said there are 1.1 million vehicles on the road today.
He said this is more than one vehicle for every registered driver.
“We are of the view that there are just too many cars on the road and more importantly these cars consume in teams of imports US$400 million every year, TT$2.5 billion,” he said.
Imbert said we import on average of 25,000 vehicles, two thirds of which are private vehicles and this is a serious leakage of foreign exchange.
He said Government felt it needed to increase taxes on some of the smaller cars in order to reduce the number of imports.
He said there is also a situation where tobacco continues to kill people through lung cancer and bladder cancer.
He said it costs the Health Ministry $500,000 per year to just treat one lung cancer patient and therefore the increased tobacco prices serves as a deterrent.