WORKERS NEED A BREAK

May 01, 2017 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

Today is May Day, a day which in socialist countries in marked by the holding of mass workers’ rallies. It is a day in which unions and workers lay bare their problems.
In Guyana, there are a lot of issues confronting the working class but none more serious than the effects of taxes on workers.
The working class is being sucked dry by the effects of the increases in taxes in the economy, including the VAT which is now being applied to a broader range of goods and services.
The workers and their unions will protest today against the VAT. But come tomorrow they face a bigger hurdle. Tomorrow is the deadline for the submission of income tax returns.
This presents a real dilemma for workers. Many of them will be unable to meet the deadline for submitting their returns.
The government has no goodies to announce to the workers for this May Day. The least they can do is to ask the Guyana Revenue Authority to grant to taxpayers a one month extension of the deadline for submitting returns.
There are four reasons why the Guyana Revenue Authority should consider extending the deadline for submission of returns.
The first is that many employers and employees are still not clear about the changes which have been made to the country’s tax regime. It is no longer simple to calculate the amount of taxes which should be deduced from your salary. Employers and employees are still grappling with the new calculations.
A simplified formula would have made things easy but now there are so many tiers on which different rates of taxes are applicable that it is very complicated for the average citizen.
The second reason is that because the tax rates have become so complicated, it is not going to be easy for the average worker to fill out his or her own tax return. Droves of workers will therefore be seeking advice of other persons on how to fill out this year returns. A lot of mistakes are going to be made.
The GRA has not launched a public education programme or any software which can be used by workers to compute their taxes. Extending the deadline for submission of tax returns would allow the GRA to provide this service and would allow time for everyone to get their houses in order.
The third reason why there should be a deadline for the submission of tax returns is because of the GRA’s own failings.
The sites identified by the GRA for submission of returns have been too limited. Also, there have been reports that in some cases the GRA staff have turned up extremely late to man these sites.
With one more day to go before tax deadline, there is going to be a mad rush for the submission of returns. The lines are going to be long.
Workers cannot afford, at this time when many businesses are laying off workers, to be asking for extra time off to stand in line to submit their tax returns.
The GRA should increase the number of tax sites. They should also provide extended time for the submission of returns.
The final reason why there should be an extension is that workers have had too much to worry about in the first quarter of the year to have had the time to deal with their tax returns.
Sugar workers are worried about bread and butter issues. Many of them have been laid off because of the closure of Wales and the premature end to the first crop at Skeldon.
VAT has been giving workers headaches. To think that VAT is now chargeable on water and electricity really has made life difficult for workers since it has led to an increase in prices in the shops.
A one litre soft drink is now $280. On top of this, the dollar has been devalued and is now trading at a rate which will bring further hardships on the working class.
Workers need a reprieve. And since none seems to be forthcoming, not even on the VAT for nursery school children, then the least the government can do is to grant a one month extension to workers to submit their tax returns. Surely, that cannot be asking too much!

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