Bahrain Mirror: The Chamber of Commerce and Industry retracted its first statement which demanded some MPs to postpone the Added Value Tax, and replaced it with a statement demanding that the government "improve the implementation of the Added Value Tax."

The chamber also demanded that some of the legal and technical aspects of the tax be made more clear, with its president Samir Nass emphasizing the importance of vision clarity when it comes to the implementation of tax, to make sure that the taxation system works and to achieve the aim behind it.

The statement also stressed on the importance of raising the awareness of the private sector on the details of the taxation system and its implementation, saying that the chamber understands the necessity behind such a tax, but the mechanisms behind it must be clear for all parties, especially the private sector.

Samir Nass also assured that the chamber sees that the current conditions make it necessary to ensure that the private sector is prepared and made well aware of the mechanisms behind the implementation of this tax. The Chamber therefore hopes that the mechanisms of this implementation will be improved alongside an awareness campaign explaining how this tax will be implemented in addition to placing a basic guide for the implementation of this tax which takes into account inflation, economic growth rates in the non-oil sector, GDP, productivity rates, and the negative effects on companies' revenue since these are the indices which show the private sector's ability to withstand taxes and to show how much they will be affected in order to protect economic activities.

Arabic Version