Maldives Parliament on Wednesday passed a government-sponsored Bill on Amendment to the Goods and Services Tax Act seeking a hike on the Tourism Goods and Services Tax (TGST) and the Goods and Services Tax (GST).

The bill had largely divided opinions between supporters of Speaker Mohamed Nasheed and President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih within MDP. As such, members who supported the President were actively working to pass the Bill while supporters of Speaker Nasheed met the Bill with heavy criticism.

While the Bill was being reviewed by the Whole-House Committee, lawmakers who supported Speaker Nasheed proposed several amendments to the Bill. The proposed amendments to the Bill made it so that there would be no hike in the taxes as dictated by the Bill. However, the amendments were thrown out without consideration by lawmakers who supported the President. They used their majority vote to submit the Bill as is to the parliament floor, where it was finally passed by the parliament.

The Bill was passed with the votes of 55 members, out of 82 who were present during the session. 26 members had voted against the Bill, while only 41 votes were required to pass the Bill.

The Bill was passed to implement a hike in GST to 8% from 6% and TGST to 16% from 12% starting January 2023.