Issue No: 1037; 27 August 2001

The Labour led People's Coalition Government had removed the controversial tax from 7 essential items.

But upon usurping power after the elected government was taken hostage by terrorists, the Qarase regime came up with its own budget. From January 2001, the Qarase regime had re-imposed the tax. This led to a major public outcry.

The Fiji Labour Party decided to challenge the reimposition of the tax.

The judgment in favour of the Fiji Labour Party was delivered on Friday. Delivering the judgment, the Judge, Justice Anthony Gates stated that the Qarase regime was illegal, and that it had no authority to change tax rules. Gates also hit out at another High Court judge, Justice Michael Scott for arguing that the doctrine of necessity can be used to override the provisions of the Constitution.

Judge Gates ordered:
· That VAT be removed from the 7 items with effect from 1 September,
· That the state provide full details on the revenue collected by the state from January to August before 27 September, and
· That the revenue be used for poverty alleviation projects.