Tax: ‘Target the rich first’

Tuesday 17th February 2004, 12:00AM GMT.

FINANCE and Economics have been challenged by Senator Stuart Syvret to hold face-to-face public debates with critics of their ‘preposterous’ tax plans.

He has vowed to fight the introduction of the goods and services tax until he is satisfied that the rich have been targeted first.’I am not fundamentally opposed to the principle but I will certainly oppose it until other issues such as capital gains tax have been properly addressed and until all the loopholes that the rich can exploit have been closed down,’ he said.’I just don’t know how the committee can seek to introduce a tax which will be regressive while still shrugging their shoulders and saying that they are quite happy to allow tax avoidance by the wealthy,’ he said.

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