The Book Industry Organisation of T&T (BIOTT) is seeking to meet with Finance Minister Colm Imbert to clarify the list and types of books and stationery which are to be subjected to Value Added Tax (VAT).
The body believes that those who will be hardest hit by the move are people in the lower income group who will now be facing increased costs at both the supermarket and bookstores, among others. President of BIOTT, Rico Charran, said a lot of changes would have to be made as he explained that workbooks/activity books appeared on both the VAT and non-VAT schedules.
Concerned over measures that would increase the cost of education, Charran said it would be difficult to assess immediately the impact of the changes in the VAT regime “because the language used to describe the books on the list is very ambiguous.”
Charran questioned the rationale behind placing all literary books on the VAT list as some were used in the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) and Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Exam (CAPE) curriculum.
Assuring that such issues would have to be determined, Charran speculated that the changes were rushed and made without widespread consultation with industry stakeholders. Referring to novels and cookbooks which were previously on the non-VAT list, Charran said they would now be subjected to VAT, along with such items as notebooks, exercise books and binder sheets.
Regarding the Secondary Entrance Assessment (SEA) practice tests, he confirmed that the price of those books would increase now, as they had been placed on the VAT list. Charran said while parents would face higher costs when purchasing schoolbooks and stationery supplies after February 1, prices remained unchanged for the time being.
At another popular Port-of-Spain bookstore, officials lamented the fact that the reading population in T&T was already “small,” and such moves would adversely affect that category of people.
Teddy Mohammed, of Mohammed’s Bookstore, was more accepting of the measure as he said: “Government has to find ways of getting revenue because its main revenue earner is no more.”
However, he too admitted that the move would “affect those parents who don’t have the financial resources to get extra supplementary materials.”
Mohammed acknowledged that everything had been lumped under broad headings and needed clarification. He said while VAT was not be charged on educational workbooks; activity books and multiple choice books, which appeared on the VAT list, could be considered as such.
Mohammed added that colouring books and storybooks were essential in the development of pre-schoolers and that parents who were asked to provide such material to their child’s school library would now face additional costs.
Saying that former education minister Hazel Manning had removed VAT on certain notebooks and copy paper to ensure that each child had the necessary materials to attend school, Mohammed said: “If you put VAT back on these items, lower income families will feel it more.
“I am sure the minister will probably go back and tweak this to see what can really be put on the zero-rated list,” he said, as he calculated the new cost of a LadyBird storybook which was previously sold at $30 would now cost $35 with VAT.
Declaring T&T to be a land of “too much squandermania,” Mohammed said where education was concerned, there were certain items which should not be placed on the VAT list.
Mohammed added: “I really hope they can revisit the issue and see how best we can all work together to move forward.”