Members enter Parliament at the opening session late last year. - File PARLIAMENT HAS taken its traditional summer recess and is scheduled to resume sittings during September.
Deputy Leader of the House, Derrick Kellier, made the announcement at the last sitting on July 30.
When sittings resume, the House will have to tackle a packed agenda. It will have to continue the 2003/2004 Sectoral Debate as well as debate crucial Bills which are currently on the table.
Among the piece of legislation that the House will have to deal with are the Child Care and Protection Bill, which was tabled on July 29. Other Bills which are now before committee are the Family Property Act and the Finger Prints Act.
The Committee on Taxation Measures, which is looking at the 2003/2004 taxation package, will also report its findings, which will be debated by the House.
The Committee, which was initially given 60 days to complete its work, sat for the first time on May 6. However, when it was unable to tie up its deliberations in the specified time, it was granted a 30-day extension on July 17. It has since completed its deliberations.
SUBMISSIONS
The committee has heard submissions from a number of sector interests about the impact of the $13.5 billion tax plan on them
The plan was announced by Dr. Omar Davies, Finance and Planning Minister, in his Budget presentation in April and seeks to raise additional revenues by putting a two per cent fee on imports and widening the 15 per cent General Consumption Tax net to include goods and services, which were previously exempt.
The committee does not have the power to introduce new taxes, but it can recommend a reduction or elimination of the proposed taxes.
