DNA proposes all-party tax reform commission

The Democratic National Alliance (DNA) is proposing to have an all-party tax commission within the first six months should it form the new government.
This was relayed yesterday at the launch of the party’s manifesto by Bruce Goodwin, the candidate for St. John’s City East.
According to the former ambassador, the country’s tax regime has become a political football of the ruling Antigua Barbuda Labour Party (ABLP) and the main opposition United Progressive Party (UPP) and it was time to put an end to the game.
“Once elected to office we are going to assemble what we call an all-party commission for tax reform in this country. Some people might be disappointed when they go through this manifesto and they don’t see ‘we’re going to put money in your pocket by dismantling this and dismantling that.’
“You’re not going to see that in our manifesto; we’re more responsible than that and we’re not playing games with your lives and the administration of this country,” Goodwin declared.
The Antigua Labour Party, now the rebranded ABLP, had abolished the personal income tax when it attained office in 1976, but it was reintroduced by the UPP during its 10-year rule from 2004 to 2014. However, the ABLP government once again removed it in 2016 after taking office in 2014. The UPP has said it will not reintroduce the tax should it win next week’s polls but it has promised to cut the incorporated business tax to 12.5 percent by the end of its first term.
(More in today’s Daily Observer)