the Mauritius Revenue Authority, he will, for the benefit of the House, obtain therefrom information as to t…
(No. B/355) Mr R. Beechook (Second Member for Flacq & Bon Accueil) asked the Prime Minister, Minister of Defence, Home Affairs and External Communications, Minister of Finance, Minister for Rodrigues and Outer Islands whether, in regard to the Mauritius Revenue Authority, he will, for the benefit of the House, obtain therefrom information as to the number of entities registered for Value Added Tax thereat for the period 2019 to 2024, indicating the – (a) number of companies and persons registered therefor, and (b) annual amount of tax collected therefrom.
Madam Speaker, I am informed by the MRA that the total number of VAT registered entities, including companies and persons, was as follows – (i) 16,231 in 2019; (ii) 17,393 in 2020; (iii) 19,368 in 2021; (iv) 21,543 in 2022; (v) 24,046 in 2023, and (vi) 26,467 in 2024. Regarding part (a) of the question, I am tabling the number of VAT registered entities, including the number of companies and persons. As regards part (b) of the question, the total amount of VAT collected was as follows –
22 (i) Rs35.8 billion in 2019; (ii) Rs29.6 billion in 2020; (iii) Rs31.5 billion in 2021; (iv) Rs43.4 billion in 2022; (v) Rs50.6 billion in 2023, and (vi) Rs57 billion in 2024.
Thank you, hon. Prime Minister. Yes, please.
Merci, Madam Speaker. From information I gather, some 20,000 businesses ceased operations from 2019 to 2024. No doubt thousands of SMEs ran out of business due to an average inflation rate of 3.5%. Since the VAT threshold of Rs6 million has remained unchanged for almost a decade, will the hon. Prime Minister, Minister of Finance, out of compassion, kindly consider increasing that VAT threshold in order to support SMEs which are the backbone of this economy?
Thank you. Yes!
In fact, when you say that for a decade it has not changed, well, it has nearly changed – it was Rs4 million in 2015, and it became Rs6 million, but, as the hon. Minister of Commerce has said, the problem is that we have a huge debt. I cannot afford to allow the debt to increase. We just cannot do it!
Yes. Hon. First Member for La Caverne and Phoenix! PHOENIX – NEW POLICE STATION