Growers call for "No Tax" in tractor-jam outside Tongan Parliament [1]
Thursday, June 9, 2005 - 17:45. Updated on Friday, May 9, 2014 - 15:47.
Photos by Linny Folau and Pesi Fonua
Over 100 Tongatapu growers drove their tractors and trucks to the Tongan Parliament at lunchtime today and presented to the Speaker of the House, Noble Veikune, a petition signed by 5,496 people, protesting the imposition of a 15% Consumption Tax on agriculture.
Driving their farm vehicles along Taufa'ahau Road, the growers wore white bandanas emblazoned with the words "NO TAX".
There was a smell of change in the air, filled with diesel fumes, and the sound of revving spray-gun motors carried by farm workers riding in the back of the trucks, as the slow-moving procession of trucks and tractors, complete with rotary hoes, diggers, and fork lifts, caused an hour-long tractor jam as it assembled, drawing a crowd of about 500 people, at the gates of parliament house.
There, the growers called on their representatives to pass a Private Member's Bill that had been tabled by the nine People's Representatives to the House. The Bill proposed amendments to the Consumption Tax Act 2003 to:
... exclude farming and agricultural activities, business and trade in local agricultural produce from the ambit of the Consumption Tax Act 2003 (CTA).
... exclude private imports (non commercial) from taxation under the CTA.
... reduce the rate of consumption tax from 15% to 10%.
... remedy the anomaly with zero rated goods. With regards to zero rated supplies, in the case of the squash industry, the fertilizers, seeds, chemicals and bins imported for growing and shipping of squash have been zero rated but the Commissioner of Inland Revenue was still demanding payment of 15% tax on the costs of those items on arrival. The commissioner said that the growers could claim refunds after export even though they were not registered for consumption tax. There is no provision in the Act to claim refunds if a company was not registered.
The growers were welcomed at the parliament compound by the Speaker and some of the People's Representatives, and after the People's Representatives signed their names on the petition, the Chairman of the Tongatapu Growers Association, 'Aisake Tuiono presented the petition to the Tongatapu No. 1 People's Representative 'Akilisi Pohiva, who then presented it to the Speaker, Noble Veikune. The Letter of Petition contained 5,496 signatures.
Veikune told the growers that the Minister of Finance had pre-empted their petition and had zero rated all agricultural activities, business and trade in local agricultural produce. He told the crowd that their petition would be presented to the House for their deliberation.
There was no response from the Tongatapu Growers Association on the pre-empt decision by the Minister of Finance, but the general feeling among growers that their demand was for a full exemption from the 15% Consumption Tax.