Chamber Says No to Water Tax

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It’s the view of the Chamber of Commerce that the bill proposing an excise tax on imported bottled water will not get the intended results but will instead have an opposite effect.

Chamber chairperson Francine Gaisoa says at present, bottled water is subject to the 5% excise tax for re sale imports, which translates to a tax of a penny and a half or little more.

She said raising that tax to 5 cents per bottle is a staggering increase of 250 to 300 percent, much more than the current tax rate for alcoholic beverages and carbonated soft drinks.

She asks: What message are we sending to our people, especially the young ones that we are trying to encourage to maintain a healthy, active lifestyle?

How can we reach for a bottle of water at the stores if it costs  more to drink clean, pure water compared to high fructose, high calories soft drinks?

The chamber chair says the territory’s  economy has been very fragile for quite a few years now, and passing the bottled water tax  will not help.

She predicts that raising the price of water will cause people to buy less water, which in turn will lower revenues and lower taxes paid to the government.

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