Fedee made this allegation during the latest UWP Town Hall Meeting held in Choiseul on September 24, 2023.

“The law that they have passed in the Parliament, and one of the things they’re applying the 2.5% tax on is the same charcoal they were saying they’re trying to protect,” Fedee had claimed during the meeting.

Fedee was referring to concerns raised by the SLP during June, 2020, when the Chastanet-led Administration sought to prohibit indigenous activities. The Public Health Act attempted to make the production of charcoal illegal without a license. The then Opposition Leader, Hon. Philip J. Pierre called these regulations “unjust, unfair and unreasonable”. Today, Fedee argues that the Pierre-Administration’s inclusion of charcoal in the Health and Citizen Security Levy is an affront to the SLP’s prior policies.

Government Senator, Lisa Jawahir, has since explained that the Levy only applies to imported goods, not locally manufactured products. While Jawahir acknowledges that article 44 of the Levy states that “wood, articles of wood and wood charcoal” would be taxed, she underlined the fact that the Administration is not taxing local producers.

“Stop trying to fool the people, Philip J. Pierre will not do what Allen Chastanet wanted to do. We are not going to sneak up on people. We are not going to put a tax on charcoal that an ordinary man who is working hard in a pit is trying to produce. There is a levy on imported goods, so obviously, the tax applies to imported charcoal,” the Senator had said while on a famous talk show.

Since the imposition of this Levy, the government has had to dispel misinformation surrounding its implementation.