Mr. Philip Beneby, Chairman of the Consumer Protection Commission (CPC) says businesses are not passing import tax reductions on to consumers and his agency is apparently going to “fix” that. Read more here…
A reduction in import taxes today will not show up in prices tomorrow if a company already has inventory on hand unless the government intends to force people to take losses.
It is not in any businesses interest to over charge for goods and services as they will lose business to their competitors.
The government also suggests “a lot of “damage,” in terms of prices, can be seen in smaller grocery outlets.”
Does the CPC consider that the smaller neighborhood stores have much less volume and often provide goods on credit so require a larger markup?
What factors would the CPC use to determine what a fair price is?
Maybe the CPC should consider examining taxes and other government “fees” as part of their remit. Or is the government allowed to gouge on taxes as they please?
As F.A. Hayek pointed out in hi book, The Fatal Conceit, “The curious task of economics is to demonstrate to men (read bureaucrats in this case) how little they really know about what they imagine they can design.”
