The government’s projected revenue forecast of $12 million from taxing web shops only plays into the narrative that it is paying back web shop bosses, Fort Charlotte MP Dr. Andre Rollins said yesterday.
During his contribution to the budget debate, Rollins, chairman of the Gaming Board, asked if the projected $12 million is “the best we can do”.
“A low tax rate and yield from web shops will only strengthen the public’s view that a national lottery will be far more beneficial to the state’s coffers and national development than the $12 million worth of revenue forecast in this budget,” Rollins said.
“This will play into the opposition’s existing narrative that we are motivated by some form of political payback as opposed to reducing the country’s annual budget deficit, or funding worthy causes such as public education, healthcare, sports, cultural and infrastructural development.
“Failure of web shop tax revenue to meet the public’s heightened expectations will inevitably increase public demand for a national lottery, and such an outcome will most certainly be seized upon by the opposition in the run-up to the next general election as an initiative they intend to deliver.”
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