Consumers of sachet water referred to as ‘pure water’ may just be spared anticipated hikes in the price of the product. Manufacturers have been planning to increase the price by about 20 percent to accommodate an ad valorem taxes imposed by government. The law was passed by Parliament last year and was to have taken effect from last month. Government has however suspended implementation until March following protests by the producers so they would have more time to sensitize the public. But the Chairman of Parliament’s Finance Committee, James Avedzi, tells Joy Business it will be wrong for the Value Added Tax (VAT) Service to ask that the manufacturers charge ad valorem on sachet water because that was never the intention. “The law that we passed says packaged mineral water…there is no mention of sachet mineral water so I don’t see the reason why the sachet why the sachet water producers should [increase cost of their products.] VAT Commissioner Anthony Ewereko-Minlah however insists it will go ahead to demand collection of the tax unless the Ministry of Finance indicates otherwise. Source: Joy Business/Myjoyonline.com/Ghana