Duty on alcohol in the BVI not enough – Smith
Alex Holder, Staff Reporter - Tuesday, January 11th, 2011 at 8:41 AM
Government is not collecting enough money in import duties for alcohol, especially considering the amount spent annually in dialysis treatment related to alcoholism in contrast with that collected on the import, says Financial Secretary Neil Smith.
Monies collected in duty for alcohol in 2010, Smith said, was less that $120,000 than that of 2009 ($882,445 – $764,495) .
This income is compared to the millions spent annually in dialysis treatment provided locally, some of which, according to the Financial Secretary, could be traced to alcoholism.
In the meantime Health Minister Dancia Penn says this trace is not notably associated to the treatment of tourists, who according to her could not casually obtain dialysis treatment.
“In order for one to become a dialysis patient, certain procedures had to be met, and pre-arrangements made,” she said.
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12 Comments
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sometimes i does really wonder whats wrong with some of these people. Niel just added himself to the idiot list.
AND SMOKING.? A TAX ON CIGARETTES WOULDN’T HURT. CHEAPER HERE THAN THE REST OF THE WORLD !
Alcohol?? Are you serious?
What about the tonnes of fried chicken the people here eat? Take a look around at the hundreds of obese people who live in the BVI as a result of the very poor diet they eat….simply disgusting!
Show us the money! Where are the figures! How much is actually spent on dialysis per year? Millions he says. I doubt it. And all of it cannot be atributed to alcoholism. Certainly duty on alcohol is used as a tax revenue raiser by many countries, but even if you double the tax (ie 100% increase) you will still only raise $1.7m.
They should increase the duty because of what if cause the government (for the dialysis machine) in order to discourage cost to the government but not to raise revenue
I wonder why he want to increase the duty; because he (the FS) don’t drink liquor. Don’t bring your personal belief to the table. If you feel that you have to, then you need another job. Thus far, I believe that Neil is the BEST MAN for this job. I hope I don’t have to change my mind. If they raise the duty I will then buy my rum in St. Thomas to take to the States; which means less revenue for the BVI. Actions like these is what encourage people to shop outside the BVI.
Is this the supposed to be well educated FS talking out his a$$ here?? I thought those it’s got the questions that are to be answered days in advance so that the necessary info can be gathered and have on hand..
There is one area where gov. revenue could be fairly increased: the undersea bed leases for moorings. I believe they are $350 annually. If you realize that most moorings are used by yachtsmen and boaters at least 200 days per year at $25 per night – that’s $5000 for one mooring. In the Norman Island area alone there are about 100 moorings. Maintenance on moorings is minimal so the only major expense is hiring someone to collect the money. In other words mooring owners are making a fortune. Stick the leases up to 1000 per year, that’s still plenty of money for everyone!
@Rastarite, The taxi men bring in alot of money also….and there are no revenues coming in from them. Unfortunately, it’s the little guy, the employee paying a payroll tax, stamp duties, landing fees, and departure fees that mostly generate revenues to keep our country rolling. The businesses and companies making alot of personal revenue don’t put much of a dime back into the country but for duty they pay….and many get their stock in without paying duty.
Yea about time they charge duty on alcohol, because they are charging fifteen percent on eyeglasses. Alcohol causes to much problems sickness and abuse, most of us needs glasses it is not as if we bringing them to sell, they are for our use to be able to do our jobs.
The causes for kidney failure requiring dialysis are numerous. Our society, like so many others has become dependant upon many over the counter medications including ibuprofen (aspirin) and anti-inflammatory drugs such as naproxin as well as many antibiotics which doctors prescribe for pretty much anything and everything these days.
However, our diets are the single MAJOR cause for renal failure, particularly in the Virgin Islands because we have an overwhelmingly high incidence of Diabetes. I hope you are paying attention Mr. Smith because – the MAIN CAUSE OF KIDNEY FAILURE requiring dialysis is due to POORLY CONTROLLED DIABETES! This is true worldwide. Medications prescribed for treatment of high cholesterol can also cause kidney disease.
Now tell us again, how you want to blame alcoholism for the costs associated with kidney dialysis in the Virgin Islands?
Before making silly statements like this, please do your homework!
This is just a precursor to yet another money grab by the government. Instead of finding some scape goat to blame your upcoming announcement advising the public that taxes on liquor will be going up, why not just make the announcement and be truthful about the reasons for it. The government needs money and this is an easy and quick way to make some! That’s it, end of story!
Alcoholism has absolutely nothing to do with it!
Ridiculous – dialysis has very little to do with alcoholism. Kidney failure has many potential causes and alcohol is one of them, but someone’s far more likely to die of liver damage before they get to the stage of kidney failure.
Address the real issue – bad diet causing diabetes which then results in kidney failure and stop trying to use it as an excuse to get extra tax revenue. SHAMEFUL!
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