Tax Committee zeros in on high ‘revenue loss’ through exemptions to diplomats, remigrants, others

GUYANA - Within the last two decades, questions have been raised about the benefits derived from the grant of millions worth in tax incentives and holidays to certain groups of people. To gather a greater understanding of Guyana’s tax incentive system in this regard, a Tax Reform Committee (TRC), which was established by the Government examined the revenue loss incurred by the country when these exemptions are granted. The Committee said that the most important revenue loss pertained to duty exempted goods. It said that this is partly related to the extreme openness of the Guyana economy and the high propensity to import, as seen over the years in the case of companies/businesses. The Committee said however, the weighting for imports is even greater in the case of diplomats, public officials/officers and re-migrants, probably due to the high rate of exemption on vehicles for these categories of persons. The body said that the revenue loss for exemptions granted to diplomats for the year 2014 alone was $1.4B. The revenue loss for incentives granted to re-migrants and public of- ficials was $2.1B and $1.4B respectively. With respect to incentives, the Committee explained that these are typically provided to companies and businessmen, in the expectation that they would lead to greater volumes of nvestment and re-investment, than would otherwise be the case. The Tax Reform Committee was established in August 2015. It was chaired by economist, Dr. Maurice Odle, and included tax specialists such as Christopher Ram, GRA Boss Godfrey Statia and Dr. Thomas Singh.

(kaieteurnews.com)