Druk Nyamrup Tshogpa (DNT), in a press release said that they have started consulting legal experts and lawyers for the next course of action to protect the Constitution regarding the fiscal incentives granted by the government.
The DNT allege that the government provided Tax holidays to certain businesses from January 2016 even before it was passed by the parliament thus violating the constitution.
Article 14.1 of the Constitution states that “Taxes, fees and other forms of levies shall not be imposed or altered except by law”. “Tax” holiday, it states, is tax, where tax rate is altered to 0 percent.
“Tax is tax. The NA’s decision to pass the fiscal incentives (tax holidays) as a law is binding only from 8 May 2017, the day it was tabled in the Parliament. “Therefore, there is a clear violation of the Constitution,” stated the release.
The Prime Minister, during the recent Meet the Press session, said the government did not breach the constitution.
Druk Nyamrup Tshogpa said the Prime Minister also politicized the whole issue with “condescending remarks” about the party, the Opposition, and the National Council.
“DNT is worried that such responses from our PM only reflected his interest to protect himself and the flaws of his government and disregarded the very basic values and principles of our growing democracy.”This is not about the PM or the DNT or the NC or the Opposition, but about the breach of the Constitution, the supreme law of the land.”
The party holds the Prime Minister and the Finance Minister accountable and insists that they step down on moral grounds or face the law.
“There is no ambiguity in the laws and the PM is not above the law. It is the sacred responsibility of every single Bhutanese to defend the Constitution,” the release stated. “As a registered political party, it is a mandated duty of any political party to defend the Constitution.”
