BY CLEMIA NEELY
Journal Staff Writer

Officials from the Consumer Affairs Division of the Department of Labour were
on the ground on Tuesday as a five percent Value Added Tax (VAT) reduction,
down from 10% came into effect on April first, making sure that store owners were
applying the lower rate.
The Consumer Affairs Division conducted their internal inspections with as many
food stores as they could to ensure compliance with the new five percent VAT rate.
Rex Adderley, head of the Consumer Affairs Division, shared the progress made
on inspections at one of the food stores visited, Phoenix Supermarket.
“So far we have spoken to the general manager of this store, and when we came in,
we noticed one or two tags that were still reflecting the 10 percent VAT. We had to
point it out to him and he’s making the changes now for us.” Mr. Adderley stated.
Owner of Phoenix Supermarket, Valentino Gardiner, gave us his thoughts on the
impact that this new VAT reduction will have on his business and his sales.
Mr. Gardener said, “we will continue to do our best to try to drive prices down, but
I don’t think that it’s going to change a lot. Maybe overtime you will see the
difference, but I don’t think right away you’ll see people rushing in and saying
okay well I am paying five percent less’ because if people come in and spend $10,
we know the VAT on that is one dollar.
I don’t know how much you can consider fifty cents less. It’s not really a big
change but overall, in the long term, yes, it’s going to be a great change,” he said
Kish Taylor, Price Inspector for the Consumer Affairs Division, reminded
consumers that the list of all of the items that will be affected by the VAT
Reduction can be found on the Office of the Prime Minister’s website, as well as
all of the Consumer Affairs social media handles.
On January 8 th , Prime Minister Philip Brave Davis announced that he was going to
impose a 50 percent reduction in the VAT rate on all food sold in food stores,
stating that, “This new five percent rate will apply to all food in the food stores,
including fresh fruits and vegetables, baby food, lunch snacks, and frozen foods.
However, it will not apply to prepared foods in the deli.”