The House of Representatives has voted unanimously to put on ‘hold’ or temporarily suspend the granting of tax breaks (investment incentive) to any bidden concession or companies over a report that government loses US$50 million annually in revenues from concessions and companies which are enjoying tax relief without any economic benefit to the country. Investment Incentive is a scheme of government to waive tax aimed at stimulating private-sector interest in specified types of capital expenditure, or investment in areas of high unemployment or backwardness. These incentives may take the form of direct subsidies (investment grants) or corporate income tax credits (investment credit) that compensates the investors for their capital costs. In approximately 60 years life span of the Concession, LAC has only utilized 20% of the total land space. The House’s Specialized Committee further indicated that BIVAC’s contract expired on August 30, 2018, and was extended by agents of Executive without input from the Legislature, but the extension maintained essentially everything in the expired contract of BIVAC, including tax breaks.

Source: Daily Observer February 26, 2020 02:26 UTC