And finally from the PUP tonight, the party is keying on on concerns expressed by the three cane farmers associations about changes to the GST regulations which affect farmers. Under the amendment which is included in the new budget, GST will be assessed on land preparation for agriculture, harvesting, and crop dusting services, only on those farmers who are registered for GST.
But, there is widespread apprehension in the agriculture industry. The PUP Leader says he has met with the cane farmer associations, and the mennonite farmers. He says the government's tax measure is ill conceived:
Hon. John Briceno, Leader of the Opposition
"This is a stupid idea that the Prime Minister came [with] where he's trying to tax the farmers. When it comes to the cane farmers, by taxing harvesting of the cane, it means they're going to charge G.S.T. to the harvesting by machine, the harvester, and the transportation, the way it is worded. They have a harvester that would cut and load your cane, and that has been reducing the cost by approximately seven dollars a ton. But once you start to include the G.S.T. to land preparation and then to cut it and to load it and to transport it, they believe that the little monies they have been saving with that is going to disappear under the G.S.T. that the Prime Minister has presented."
Government hopes to raise three million dollars with this tax measure. Government stressed the amendment will not apply to all farming activities, nor will it affect those small farmers who are not registered for GST.
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