Vila town council of chiefs chairperson, Jean-Marie Leye Lenelgau, has asked the island's Prime Minister Edward Natapei to completely scrap the tax according to reports from the Pacific Island News Agency. If the debit tax is to go ahead, Lenelgau said the government should raise the level of the minimum wage to compenste the island's poorest citizens who he says will be worst hit by the measure.

The debit tax has been introduced in place of the former system of 'cheque duty'. It is levied when money is withdrawn from a bank account.

In an apparent attempt to persuade the government to rethink the issue, chief Lenelgau has written a letter to the Finance Minister Sela Molisa saying that the island's status as a tax haven is also under threat as a result of the debit tax.

A peaceful demonstration is being planned by the Vanuatu chiefs as a protest against the tax on March 15.