Rich, poor tax issues

THE Fiscal Review Committee appointed by the Ministry of Finance must address the issue of “rich are getting richer”, says chairman of the Pearce Home Trust Mohammed Hassan Khan He said the committee must investigate why older persons had to pay a lot of taxes which included income taxes, sales taxes, fuel taxes, capital gains tax and withholding tax.

“In the absence of any independent survey report, it is safe to assume that in total the average older family paid 45 per cent of its income in taxes,” he said.

“The Fiscal Review Committee needs to note this from the outset. “According to anecdotal reports the average family feels that they are over-taxed while the very rich are getting away with ease.

“Older persons feel they receive poor or very poor value from the services from government like health care, education, policing, roads, drains, urban utility services and family security.

“In fact, the older persons are the ones who are hardest hit because they receive no priority in health care services or from any other services.

“As the total tax bill continues to rise for the average family, it’s critical to better understand the opinions of people on both their tax burdens and the value of services they receive from government in return for their tax dollars.”

The Fiscal Review Committee is now accepting submissions and will report back to the ministry in May.