MP Shaad: Big businesses must not be able to escape paying tax

Speaking during a parliamentary debate on the government's proposed amendment to the Tax Administration Act, Hulhudhoo constituency MP Mohamed Shahid (Shaad) said that while tax is collected by law from ordinary low-income citizens, a fair system must exist to ensure big businesses cannot escape paying the money they owe to the state. Shaad said state revenue had increased and living standards had improved since the tax system was introduced in 2010. However, he said the main reason the state was not receiving all the revenue owed to it was that some large businessmen used political influence to avoid and delay tax payments. He said some businessmen used various excuses and appeals for five years, and then around presidential elections paid small amounts to political parties and leaders in order to have their taxes waived. He said hundreds of millions of rufiyaa had been forgiven between the two rounds of an election, and that forgiving such large sums of money, which belonged to the Maldivian people, was unacceptable. Noting that the Maldives is not a poor country in terms of per capita income, Shaad said the shortfall in state revenue made it difficult to fully provide basic services, education and healthcare across the islands. He described the proposed amendment as an important step that would give the state additional legal authority to recover money owed to it.