Guyanese are drowning in taxes

Apr 22, 2010 Letters

Dear Editor,
The Government of Guyana must review its policies on taxation. I refer specifically to the recent tirade by the Commissioner General on the payment of property taxes.
The Government of Guyana through its Finance Ministry arm and specifically the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) is taxing Guyanese to their death. In doing so, the Government of Guyana is also taking Guyana to its death. We as a people are drowning in taxes.
Let’s look at how this Government is toying with us and slowly strangling us and our country in the process. They charge an enormous duty and taxes on cars that take the value of an old car from under $1 million to $2 million and then tell us we have to factor this into our net worth when paying property taxes. The combination of this and other property if over $7.5 million, requires the payment of property taxes.
Now that more Guyanese own their own homes, the GRA sees this as a treasure trove for them to go after. To what effect? For it to be stolen from within the GRA? What the GRA fails to realise is that most of these people have hefty mortgages on these property. Or some have scrimped and saved to build their homes in order to avoid paying a rent. Now the GRA wants them to pay an annual rent to the Government in the form of property tax.
The people already pay taxes to the local councils for services that are miniscule. Why does the GRA want the people of Guyana to pay rent to the Government for property they own? What will happen to pensioners who own property that has appreciated in value and who can barely survive from the pension they get from this Government? Now this very Government is asking that they pay the Government rent on the property they can barely live in. And that’s the only thing of real value we own. Our homes. So that’s what it amounts to. Rent!
Finally in terms of Guyana’s economy, what this insistence on property tax will do is to further destroy our economy. This will cause the small investors and potential small investors to instead move their funds overseas to garner an income in the form of interest to avoid paying property tax, rather than invest in the local economy. This will result in more leakages and further weaken the economy.
But this Government and the theorist in positions seem to think they have all the answers. Their only answer is to tax and take from Guyanese and Guyana.
They are those through connections who avoid paying massive taxes that are legitimately due to the Government. So there is no interest in arriving at a solution that is just. It is the same with the Constitution. There is no interest in changing it to strengthen democracy. Instead it works for whoever is in power. When they are out, then they will cry foul. And the vicious stupid circle continues…..
Ganesh Singh

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Guyanese are drowning in taxes

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