Duty Allowances may go

Shoppers upset about losing $400 benefit

Residents of the Turks and Caicos Islands who have been traveling to destinations like Miami and cashing in on the shopping bonanzas, will soon have to dig deeper into their pockets when they arrive at the Providenciales International Airport.
 
Investigations by The SUN revealed that the $400 duty allowance to which locals are entitled each time they return to the Turks and Caicos Islands, is under review by the Interim Government and may be either scrapped or limited to just a few trips per year.
 
Well-placed sources disclosed that the review of the duty allowance is being done in order to aid the cash-strapped Government in its revenue stimulation efforts. The duty exemptions cost the country about $132 per person each time they travel, shop and claim, and this, according to officials, works out to a “fairly significant amount of money” each year.
 
However, this proposal to scrap or reduce the duty allowance is not sitting well with many locals who believe that either of these actions will create additional hardships for many in these already tough economic times.
 
For many Turks and Caicos Islanders this $400 duty allowance is a life-line which allows them to realise significant savings during the course of the year, while at the same time improving their standard of living.
 
One irate frequent shopper told The SUN that Turks and Caicos Islanders should petition the Governor and the Interim Government asking them not to interfere with the duty allowance.
 
“People in the Turks and Caicos save plenty money because of that $400 exemption. Things here are so expensive and the mark-ups are so high, so a lot of people go to Miami and other places to shop so they can save. Now with the airline tickets being so expensive for such a short trip and now you may soon not have the benefit of the $400 for you and each member of your family, it almost doesn’t make sense going to Miami to shop these days,” said a female Government worker who requested anonymity.
 
Another regular shopper said that when combined with the additional money which persons will have to pay for National Health Insurance, it is expected that many families will be having an increasingly difficult time if the duty exemptions are adjusted.
  
“The Brits said that we in the Turks and Caicos Islands were living above our means but that is not the case,” another concerned shopper said. “We are just accustomed to having good things but it seems as though they want to reduce our people to paupers by taking away all of the benefits that we enjoyed.”