Latest update January 6th, 2025 4:00 AM
Sep 05, 2010 Features / Columnists, My Column
By Adam Harris
This past week, everyone has been talking about the small-time promoter who, on being taken before a magistrate’s court, opted to kill himself. The vast majority of people described him as stupid, but there are those like me who see the man as a victim of the system.
I have known for years that this country is notorious for its tax dodgers—people who should pay taxes but simply do not. I remember talking about this phenomenon time and again and being given numerous answers.
For example, people like taxi drivers, rice farmers, and a host of self-employed people never paid taxes. To catch up with some of them the government demanded tax statements before they could leave the country. As things go, the same government found that need for tax returns too time consuming and simply scrapped it.
I remember the Guyana Revenue Authority selectively going after some people. One day, Mr Estwick Northe who owned some business enterprises told me that a mere six months earlier, the Guyana Revenue Authority had demanded his books and had examined them. The GRA was to do the same thing a few months later.
Understandably, Northe became angry and went public with what he considered harassment.
I did the news report and as expected, the GRA cancelled whatever it had planned to do with Northe. There were others in the same bind and the numerous complaints prompted me to meet with head of the GRA, Khurshid Sattaur.
I asked him about tax investigation given that there appeared to be too many so-called big-ones who seemed to escape the tax net.
At that time some four years ago, Mr Sattaur explained that the system was to identify about ten per cent of the businessmen for assessment.
At the time many large edifices were going up; there were large numbers of people who suddenly became rich without any visible source of earnings; and there were importers, when the records were examined, who simply escaped with paying precious little by way of taxes and duties.
I wondered at this and I heard that the system was short of tax investigators so some people will get away. I could understand. Guyana is a country short of skills so these things are likely to happen, especially since we do not have systems like the developed countries that can keep tab on everyone who makes money.
The GRA was still able to go after cinemas and the like, but there were promoters who hosted events and appeared to pay nothing or very little.
The people who bring in foreign entertainers probably pay the requisite taxes, but we know that in many cases the government steps in, so there must be a tax waiver.
Then there are the importers who seem to get special concessions. One major business entity seems to be enjoying special privileges when it comes to taxes. Reporters tried to access some of the tax statements but found that these simply existed outside the system.
Obviously there is some discrimination and this should not be in a country where all are subjected to the same laws. And so we come to this small-time promoter. He must have owed a pittance to the government.
I know that the GRA would call in people to discuss payment plans with them. It did so when it uncovered the vehicle scam. It called in the affected people and worked out a scheme through which they would pay the necessary duties.
Was this facility granted to the small-time promoter? I am sure that had he been called in then he would have agreed to some form of payment.
But then again, the GRA has been known to arbitrarily affix charges and costs. Perhaps the entity demanded too much from the promoter who just knew that he could not pay what was asked.
He was slapped with nine charges, perhaps because he hosted nine events and did not pay taxes, and faced with the prospect of going to jail he took the way of death. I know that the taxman could terrorise people. I could actually hear him telling the promoter that he was going straight to jail for trying to rob the government.
If the taxman could be so condign with others the country would rake in so much revenue. But I know that he seems to turn a blind eye to certain people and their enterprise.
As a contractor, did Fip Motilall pay any taxes since undertaking the Amaila Falls hydro project road? How many contractors have been asked to pay their fair share?
It is for this reason that there is a crying need for a Freedom of Information Act. Reporters could easily access the records and find out who are the tax dodgers and who are not. I am sure that the investigation would be most revealing and embarrassing to many.
Indeed, people move to the courts to block anything that they want to hide so I expect that there would be even more people seeking injunctions.
However, the small-time promoters would not be among them because they are not wise to the ways of the world. They are simple people who only try to earn an honest living.
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