MP for St John’s Rural West, Richard Lewis, has called on the government to waive the Antigua and Barbuda Sales Tax (ABST) on school supplies and uniforms ahead of the opening of schools next month.
“As our people continue to struggle under the unaddressed high cost of living, I call on the Gaston Browne administration to grant a full waiver” on ABST on back-to-school items from August 23-25 and August 30 to September 1, MP Lewis said in a press release.
He posited that an early announcement of such relief would empower parents to take full advantage, and provide maximum benefits to students, and that every effort must be made to ensure that there is no reoccurrence of the inconvenience and missed opportunities which resulted from last year’s late announcement of a single weekend of ABST relief.
“Further, to ensure maximum benefit to our students, the full ABST waivers should be applied as broadly as possible to school uniforms, school bags, exercise books and graph books, dictionaries, binders and books covers, stationery, calculators, rulers, geometry sets, lunch kits, and all other critical items required by students,” he said.
He further urged the government to move with haste to implement this “common sense” relief measure to ensure that parents can fully equip students for success in the new school year.
