REGULATION ON NEW TAX SYSTEM
The National Consultative Council today adopted a draft regulation that will lay the foundations for a new tax system in East Timor. The regulation creates the East Timor Revenue Service as the new collection agency for taxes and introduces a comprehensive set of taxation procedures for the support of a new tax system.
A new taxation measure – a tax on services – is also contained in the new regulation. This tax will apply to various services supplied by restaurants, hotels, transport rental and telecommunications providers. The new tax is ten per cent of the value of the service.
The new Services Tax will apply from tomorrow, 1 July.
The Services Tax contains thresholds based on the monthly sales of the business before the tax will apply. For hotel, telecommunications providers or transport rental businesses, the threshold is US$500 in total sales per month. If total sales in a month are less than this amount, then no tax will be payable.
For restaurants, a special phase-in threshold is proposed. Recognizing that a number of new and small restaurants are commencing business in East Timor, the proposed threshold has been set at US$1,000 for the period 1 July-31 December 2000. From 1 January 2001, the threshold would be reduced to the same amount as the other sectors covered by the tax, that is, sales of US$500 per month.
The East Timor Revenue Service will start to operate from 1 July 2000. The Revenue Service is to be supported by a long-term technical assistance and training program, to be provided by the Australian Government. The program, approved this week, includes A$700,000 in training by taxation experts in the year 2000.
INVESTORS INTERESTED IN EAST TIMOR
UNTAET’s Investment Promotion Unit has received several multi-million dollar investment proposals over the past weeks.
Possible investors from Japan, Singapore, Thailand, Australia, Portugal and the USA, among others, have approached the unit, interested in setting up a number of hotels and prefabricated housing plants.
Companies have also shown interest in mechanized fishing projects, large-scale poultry farms and waste management plants in East Timor. In addition, a ten-member team from an Indonesian steel conglomerate is visiting East Timor next week. The team will look at investment opportunities in a wide range of areas, including infrastructure, water, sanitation, energy and construction.
The process of setting up a Joint Committee of Investment is underway. There will be a meeting on Tuesday next week to finalize the terms of reference.
It is planned that the Investment Promotion Unit will process investment proposals before handing them over to the Committee for approval.
The Investment Promotion Unit and the Joint Committee of Investment are working on a Foreign Investment regulation.
INTERNATIONAL PROSECUTORS SWORN IN
Two international prosecutors were sworn in on Wednesday for the Special Panel handling so-called serious crimes. Timorese prosecutors to the panel will be sworn in next week.
Michael Keegan, a former trial attorney and legal advisor of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, was appointed as the Deputy General Prosecutor for Serious Crimes. He will, for the time being, act as General Prosecutor for East Timor.
Carlos Vasconcelos, a former federal prosecutor at the Office of Federal Prosecutions in Brasilia, Brazil, was appointed as a Public Prosecutor.
PRINT CONSORTIUM IN OPERATION
The UNTAET-supported print consortium will begin operations early next week. The first printing machine test-run was successfully done today.
The machine, a Heidelberg Sormz, was repaired by an engineer from Australia and is capable of running 8,000 two-color tabloid-sized newspapers per hour.
Four tonnes of paper, as well as ink and chemicals are due to arrive in Dili from Darwin, Australia, on 7 July.
Two other machines owned by the consortium are also being repaired. Repairs are expected to be completed at the end of next month. With the three machines, the print consortium will be able to undertake full-color printing jobs.
Three East Timorese publishing groups - the Timor Post, Lalenok and Talitakum and Lian Maubere - participate in the consortium as shareholders together with four NGOs and a radio station.
UNTAET will pay for the repairs from the UNTAET Trust Fund, a total of US$25,000 while USAid is providing funding totalling US$45,000 for three months, paying for paper, ink, chemicals and salaries of the production team.
UNTAET TV TO LAUNCH GAME SHOW
UNTAET television is planning to launch a live, TV game show, “The University Challenge”.
Students from Dili University will compete for major prizes, perhaps even international scholarships, in answering tough questions before a nation-wide Timorese audience.
The show, which will go on air in September-October, is a quiz on topics relating to East Timor. The people of East Timor will be asked to submit some of the questions. The topics will range from East Timorese history, economy and politics to human rights, democracy and the constitutional process.
The game show will be recorded in front of a live audience in the TV/Radio UNTAET Complex, formerly the Radio Republic of Indonesia building in Dili.
