Baku, Azerbaijan, June 13
Trend:
Uzbekistan plans to abolish all privileges for paying VAT on food products, Trend reports with reference to Podrobno.uz.
“The list of individual goods that are exempt from VAT was a temporary measure. Why was it applied? When VAT was introduced, many experts said that this could lead to a sharp rise in prices. Thus, this measure was taken to help the needy. This is a social issue; any reform should take into account the need to support the vulnerable segments of the population. People should not suffer,” said Mubin Mirzayev, First Deputy Chairman of the State Tax Committee (STC) of Uzbekistan.
In his words, there will be no benefits from January 1, 2020 and VAT will be introduced in all chains.
“This is a fair norm, it makes manufacturers compete with each other and creates a normal market system. Otherwise, we will never develop, while we need a stable economy, growth and budget revenues. Without this, we will not be able to compete with other countries, ” he emphasized.
The list of food items produced in the country and exempted from VAT includes nine products: milk, sugar, bakery products, rice, eggs, onions, potatoes, fish and meat.
According to STC, several options are being discussed for offsetting VAT on agricultural products. At the same time, the Committee does not yet see the need to reduce the current VAT rate.