Latest update April 30th, 2026 12:17 AM
Poor tax collection: Somebody should be jailed for this
The Story within the Story…
By Leonard Gildarie
A country is as strong as its laws. The enforcement of those laws is what forces the citizens to toe the line. The reasons are very simple. Deviating from the laws has repercussions – jail time or financial penalties that will hurt your pocket.
Leonard Gildarie
I had vowed last year to be more watchful and tougher in my criticisms this year. There have been increasing complaints about the attitude of our public servants and our leaders. It is that attitude that has hurt us and kept us in the dark ages when it comes to development.
It deeply bothers me. Civil servants and our politicians are supposed to serve the people. When we allow arrogance to seep in, and forget the reason for us being there, then it can only be a recipe for disaster.
Why do we think it is okay to bribe police or for police to demand a raise for doing their duty?
On Friday, it was with growing anger that I sat through a press conference hosted by Rawle Lucas, Chairman of the Guyana Revenue Authority, and heard him detail the depressing state of our tax collection.
There are a few reasons for the bitter taste in my mouth. Taxes are how governments raise revenues to run the country. When you trouble with taxes or fail to manage its collection in an optimum manner, then we are guilty of sabotaging this wonderful country of ours.
Guyana raises revenues from a number of areas – VAT, property taxes, customs and excise, income tax and of course, those from the self-employed.
Lucas disclosed that the board of GRA had commissioned a review to find out how tax collection is doing. The places reviewed, excluded Georgetown, but targeted areas like Corriverton, New Amsterdam, Linden, Ogle, Anna Regina and Bartica.
It is with consternation that I learnt that depressed Linden pays more taxes than vibrant Corriverton in Berbice.
I pay a third of my salary to GRA every month. There are so many families that badly want those extra tax dollars to make ends meet. It would go a far way for many families who live day-to-day, paycheck to paycheck. So why would we not want to collect taxes?
There are so many categories of workers and self-employed persons who collect monies with GRA having no whiff of it.
Take a walk around Stabroek Market and we get a good idea of the amount of tax evasion. That is only Georgetown. The level spikes as we move further away from the city.
The big question is why over time have we allowed so much seepage – monies that would have helped us to move this country forward – better roads, schools, jails etc.
The blamed has to be laid squarely on the managers of our tax systems – GRA and the Government of the day.
I have many questions. Do we know how much taxes are slipping through our fingers?
This question was posed to the GRA Chairman. He does not know, as a review is ongoing. But it has to be substantial.
Our national budget last year was $220B. The Auditor General’s report of 2014 spoke of an alarming $60B or about 27 percent that could not be collected because it was waived in duty free concessions, tax breaks, and other investor-friendly arrangements.
The new Government will do well to correct this. We can ill-afford to waive that amount without a full assessment of what Guyana and its people are getting in return.
I am being told that no such assessment exists and that ad hoc arrangements were in place, with ministries and other agencies under the previous administration approving concessions and the GRA implementing.
As a taxpayer, with a family, I find it criminal that while the poor are being forced to pay through their noses, a large section of the populace escapes scot-free.
I pay $4500 annually in rates and taxes. We expect the NDCs to collect garbage, fix roads and clean our drains with this. It is a fact that NDCs eagerly depend on a $3M annual subvention from Government to meet expenses. Yet no decision has been taken for years now to increase taxes.
It is simple – we have a broken system that needs fixing and we had managers who did nothing, forcing the poor people who were already overtaxed to remain in their sorry state.
I would love to see an even playing field; where GRA is doing its job and there are no excuses about not enough staffers or no budget that will allow us to increase our collections. Nobody likes taxes. But few people like being victimized.
I could not help but think I am a victim of a system that should be fixed. The time is now to reverse this.
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