Potential private sectors will continue to receive Fiscal Incentives as the National Assembly yesterday decided to extend the fiscal incentives by a year and a half. The National Assembly today adopted the Fiscal Incentive (Amendment) Bill of Bhutan 2020. The current Fiscal Incentive was supposed to expire by the end of this month.
Fiscal Incentives generally refers to the temporary exemption of taxes and duties or granting income tax holidays for boosting private sector development and attracting Foreign Direct Investment.
Conducting the third reading of the Fiscal Incentive Bill of Bhutan 2020, the Economics and Finance Committee of the National Assembly informed the house that the government will only propose the new Fiscal Incentive Bill by next year.
Understanding the situation, various member of Parliament further suggested extending the Fiscal Incentives by a year and a half.
“In view of the Fiscal Incentives Act, It would be better to extend the expiry date of the fiscal incentives till mid of 2022. If we keep the expiry duration for only a year, as soon as it expires, a year later we have to make many changes and review the Bill again. That is why I would like to recommend to extend the expiry date of the Fiscal Incentives Bill from 2021 to mid of 2022,” proposed Ugyen Wangdi, the Member of Parliament (MP) of Dramedtse_Ngatshang.
“We support the idea of extending the Fiscal Incentives by a year. However, during that time, it will be good if the government could assess all the impacts created by the pandemic to the country’s economy and present it in the House next year. Further, it will be best if the government could also introduce the new Fiscal Incentive Bill in the next summer session of the parliament,” said Dorji Wangdi, the Opposition Leader.
Meanwhile, the Prime Minister said that the government is currently studying the impact of the pandemic on the economy and waiting for the 21st Century Economy Roadmap which will be readied soon.
“We are in a position to propose new fiscal incentives anytime but we are uncertain how the pandemic situation will impact the economy at large. Till date, taking in feedback and suggestions from experts we have come up with relevant changes in the fiscal incentives but the situation is changing every now and then. We can always put in new ideas in the fiscal incentives by observing it carefully. Moreover, experts are working on the 21st Century Economy Roadmap which will be the main economic policy. That is why we have extended the fiscal incentives,” said Dr Lotay Tshering, the Prime Minister.
However, the House at the end of the session yesterday came to an agreement that the Fiscal Incentives (Amendment) Act of Bhutan 2020 will only expire on 30th June 2022.
The House adopted the Bill with all the 45 members present, voting in favour of the Bill. The Fiscal Incentive (Amendment) Bill of Bhutan 2020 will now be referred to the National Council of Bhutan as a Money Bill.
Passang Dorji
