Fiji's Opposition Wants a New Tax; Government Says No

 In an unusual reversal of their roles, Fiji's Opposition wants to a new "tax" and Government opposes the proposal.  The proposal to tax tourists and pay the money to workers in the tourism industry has merit but as Tourism Minister Premila Kumar infers by stating that all workers should be treated equally, it would be unfair to other workers. She has a point but I think the Standing Committee  exaggerates the impact on the industry. -- ACW

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Government in parliament rejects service fee petition by Gavoka  By Vijay Narayan, Fiji Live.   Wednesday 03/04/2019

The government side has rejected the petition by SODELPA MP Viliame Gavoka to introduce a service fee in the tourism industry and the income derived from the fee to be paid to the workers in the industry.

The Parliamentary Standing Committee looking into the report on the petition states that the industry will get negatively affected if a service fee is introduced, tourism operations may close down due to increased fees and 

 tourist operations may close down due to increased fees and tourist arrivals could also get affected resulting in job losses.

The report states that 100,000 workers are directly or indirectly relying on the tourism industry and only 690 people signed the petition.

However Gavoka said in parliament that the service fee is needed to reward the workers in the tourism industry.

SODELPA’s Lynda Tabuya agreed with Gavoka and said that the service fee should be implemented to give more to the workers however she then said that the hotels in Denarau are getting too expensive.

Tourism Minister Premila Kumar says the government will not support the implementation of the service fee.

Kumar also says that cabinet has also agreed that another comprehensive review of the National Minimum Wage should be done.