Roseau, Dominica (TDN) Today’s Dominican society smacks of corruption. Political favors are doled out at the expense of established rules and regulations. Nowhere is that more evident than in the granting of duty-free waivers on luxury vehicles largely to friends and supporters of the ruling Dominica Labour Party (DLP).
This activity has been stepped up as a desperate government seeking to hang on to power have moved to hold on to richer members of society and part of the middle class. For years the DLP thought it could depend on massive support from the poor laboring classes of Dominicans.
In the recent past however, the opposition United Workers Party has made huge strides in that segment of the population so the DLP has been forced to dole out favors to entice and keep the more affluent in Dominican society. Nothing underscores more pointedly someone’s standing in this society than ownership of a luxury vehicle.
But this comes at a very hefty price. In Dominica motor vehicles attract a host of government duties and taxes. There is a 20 percent import duty for new motor vehicles and 40 percent for vehicles manufactured 5 years or more, 28 percent excise tax, 1 percent environmental levy, 3 percent customs service charge and 15 percent Value Added Tax. All the other duties and taxes are added to the value of the landed vehicles before the imposition of the 15 percent VAT.
Between September 1, 2014 and June 30, 2015 no fewer than 202 persons received Cabinet approval for the waiver of import duties on motor vehicles. More than half of those occurred in the three months leading up to the December 2014 general elections. Among that list is a scattering of returning Dominicans, and some churches which are legally exempt but the vast majority are friends or supporters of the DLP.
These includes well known government operatives like Mervin Paul of the Government Information Service, and Emanuel Nanton who imported a Toyota Land Cruiser. It is estimated that government had to forgo close to EC 5 million in revenue, which is about 8 percent of the total taxes collected on imported goods; in order to facilitate this arrangement.
Those like Nanton and Paul feeding off the largesse of the Skerrit regime do not lack the ability to pay those taxes and even if they did, this still does not qualify them to receive duty free concessions. Most of the waivers are on pricey SUVs like the Toyota RAV and Honda CRV, but also includes Mercedes Benz, BMWs, Vintage cars, Range Rovers, and Land Cruisers.
While the government is giving away tax breaks to the affluent and well-heeled in Dominican society it has moved to penalize the poor and less fortunate by doubling the rate of import duties from 20 to 40 percent on older vehicles.
It is not clear under what authority the Cabinet continues to give away the State resources especially considering Dominica’s dismal revenue performance. Maybe it is not too much to hope for that when the regime changes a new government will insist on the payment of those duties.
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