for firm policies

Vanuatu

Minister calls

The President, Jean-Marie Leye, signed the turnout tax bill into law, effecting it on January 1, despite a request from some expa triate businessmen to delay the implementation of the new four percent tax.

Finance Minister Willie Jimmy called on the government to be firm in its decisions regarding policy matters.

In a letter to the Prime Minister, Maxime Carlot Korman, Jimmy said the government should not allow the small number of colo nial expatriates in the country to manipulate government deci sions.

Jimmy was referring to the letter which a group of businessmen had sent to Korman in December requesting a delay on the implementation of the new tax. Jimmy says the new system would prevent importers from cheating through under-valuation on imported products, as was the case in the past. Despite the letter, the President went-ahead and signed into law the tax bill.