VAT removed from personal care items

Value Added Tax (VAT) on selected essential personal and critical care items will be zero-rated from April 1, and measures will be taken to ensure those savings are passed on to consumers.

Prime Minister Mia Mottley announced on Monday that all sanitary towels and tampons, baby and adult diapers, antiperspirants, vitamins and multi-minerals will be zero-rated for VAT purposes, along with 35 items used primarily to assist with the control of chronic diabetes, such as Glucerna, Ensure, Enterex, Pediasure, Slim Fast and Splenda products.

“This is a long-overdue measure that I am proud to introduce and another component of protecting our people, shielding our people from cost of living increases,” she said as she delivered her first Budget address in two years.

To ensure the tax relief measures are passed onto the consumer, the Prime Minister said, the Department of Commerce will ensure the movement of prices will be published every two weeks, for the benefit of the public.

“So that all Barbadians may see what prices are out there and Barbadians can vote with their feet and their pocket,” she said.

“I have similarly asked that monthly reports be prepared for submission to the Cabinet and through the Minister of Labour to the Social Partnership, so as to ensure that the sacrifice being borne by the taxpayers that I’ve announced today, genuinely reaches the pockets of Barbadians where we need them to reach and are not used as part and parcel of the profit to be incurred by persons selling these products.”

The Prime Minister also committed to continue monitoring the critical price trends in oil, freight, personal care items, and food, with a view to considering how to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the shield being provided for consumers.

“The Department of Commerce working with the public, the Fair Trade Commission, the Barbados Revenue Authority, and the Customs and Excise Department can ensure that these savings do reach where they need to reach because we are all in this together,” she added. (DP)