‘Punish duty-free cheats severely!’ – Hon Marlon A. Penn
He was speaking Tuesday July 14, 2015 during the debate on the Tourist Duty Free System Act of 2015 in the House of Assembly during the Second Sitting of the First Session of the Third House of Assembly.
The legislation aims to establish duty free facilities as the Minister of Finance dictates, allowing tourists to make purchases of goods intended to be removed from the territory without the payment of customs duties.
“While I like a lot of the benefits of the Bill I have a few concerns Madam Speaker as it relates to the mechanism we are putting in place. I am concerned more specifically about abuse of the system. Many of the prohibited items [covered by the legislation] I am sure some of the merchants or business owners operating in the [duty free] space are also going to be operating outside of the duty free zone,” he said.
“We have to make sure that we put the necessary mechanisms in place so that we don’t have abuse of the system because you don’t want persons having an unfair competitive advantage to their other competitors in the economy so we have to be mindful of that and look with eagles’ eyes to what is happening in terms of the goods that are coming in,” he said.
He said that though well intended, the legislation could be subject to abuse and as such there must be the requisite mechanisms in place to punish or penalise persons who seek to do such.
He acknowledged that there is great opportunity in the facility and he called it a first step to a bigger plan for developing the territory’s tourism product.
14 Responses to “‘Punish duty-free cheats severely!’ – Hon Marlon A. Penn”
I personally want to see historic walking tours and brochures educating visitors about history, researched and written by students. I want to see plaques on old houses telling who built and lived there. I do NOT want to see shopping kiosks at historical sites. I want them to be kept clean but not fancied up. That is not authentic and the more you do to historic sites with foot traffic etc. the more damage will incur. Tortola is turning into "every island" while VG is dictated by the rich and famous. the two don't mix.
THIS WILL OF COURSE ENCOURAGE SMUGGLING AS IT PUNISHES THE THE SAME PEOPLE WE ARE TRYING TO PROTECT.