Move to drop tax waivers for foreign contractors welcome

Government plans to remove all tax waivers given to foreign contractors undertaking government projects are welcome. However, the tax reliefs should have been introduced years back, when the country began undertaking major mega infrastructure projects. But as the adage goes, “better late than never.’’

 Local contractors are set to be the biggest beneficiaries of the plan to slap a 25 per cent import duty in addition to the recently implemented 16 per cent Value Added Tax (VAT) as it will end the largely unfair advantage enjoyed by their foreign competitors. But maybe a word of caution is in order.