AFC wants Gov’t to set up task force to review VAT on Private Education

The Alliance For Change (AFC) says it will make strident representation within the Coalition Government that the current 14% Value Added Tax (VAT) on education be removed.

The party says it is of the view that the status of private educational institutions requires review and updating where appropriate and calls on the Government of Guyana to set up a task force to engage this matter in advance of the presentation of the Budget 2018 estimates.

This decision was taken at its second National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting for 2017, hosted at the weekend.

“The party recognizes that the measure of instituting Value Added Tax on private education tuition has been unpopular and has created some unexpected challenges for some parents of children and adult students attending private educational institutions,” a statement from the AFC said.

It added that it has listened to those who have been affected by this measure and having thoroughly reviewed all perspectives and extensively deliberated on the matter the party accepts that tuition ought not to attract VAT, Budget 2017 has a significant deficit and that the measure ought to have benefitted from wider consultation.

The position of the AFC will be tested at the next sitting of the National Assembly which is slated for Monday, May 08, 2017, as the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) is attempting to move a motion to review the Tax imposed on private institutions.

The Opposition party says it expects “that the AFC will vote in support of this motion.”