The government had proposed an amendment to the Import Duty Act to levy a 15 percent duty on many types of goods. The amendment was passed by the parliament on Tuesday. Nasheed told reporters that state income should be generated by levying income tax and that a good economy cannot be sustained by income derived from custom duties. "We have noticed that indirect taxes such as import duty have a very bad impact on the economy. The tax that is being derived from the poorest man's toothpaste is equal with the tax levied on the richest man's toothpaste. We do not believe that this is a smart way of generating state income," he said. According to the opposition Maldivian Democratic Party's (MDP) interim leader, history of nations has proven that the best technique to increase the state revenue is to levy a comparatively greater income tax upon those with a greater income. He said that state revenue derived from business profit taxes had decreased 27 percent in March alone. The imported products that will be levied with a 15 percent import duty mainly include textiles, clothes, carpets, rope, thread and other material and products that fit this range.