By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

Super Value’s owner yesterday said he expects to collect $20-$25 million in Value-Added Tax (VAT) for the Government this year, while warning that much more consumer education is required.

Rupert Roberts told Tribune Business, in a thinly-veiled reference to recent Price Control Commission inspections, that the Government needed to “help, not hinder” tax-collecting companies such as his.

“This year, we expect to collect $20-$25 million of VAT for the Government,” Mr Roberts told Tribune Business. “We also expect to have to loan them $20-$25 million via a revolving loan, leaving 7.5 per cent at the border.”

That is a reference to the VAT that Super Value will have to pay on all its imported produce when it arrives in the Bahamas, and passes through Customs, although it will be able to claim back - or ‘net off’ - these tax payments against what it receives on its outputs.

“Government and government agencies should be able to help us do that, not come around and hinder us,” the Super Value president said, in reference to recent price control encounters.

“All we want is a spirit of co-operation. We’re co-operating, and helped them implement VAT, and are prepared to help them run it. But the public is getting the wrong impression.”

Super Value, due to its sheer size and high turnover, will be one of the Government’s largest VAT collectors.

However, noting the considerable consumer education challenges that remain, Mr Roberts recalled how several ladies had already phoned him to complain that Super Value had “overcharged” them VAT.

When he probed their complaints, he found they were under the mistaken impression that VAT was a flat rate levy of 7.5 cents per item - not 7.5 per cent.

And, describing another encounter in a Super Value store, Mr Roberts said: “I had a lady come in and say: ‘Where is the price controlled items list?’

“I reached up above her head, and passed her a two-and-a-half inch book. She said she wanted a sheet. I said: ‘No, this is the price control list’.

“She said: ‘The price controlled items are supposed to be VAT free’. I said: ‘No, they’re supposed to be duty free; you have to pay VAT on them’.

“She replied: ‘The Price Control Commission did not say that’. I said: ‘Here’s the phone number for the Price Control Commission, here’s the phone, take the number and call them’. She declined, so I said: ‘Take the number and call them’.”

The VAT Education Task Force is now planning to switch its focus to consumer education, having completed its work with the business community on the registration process.