Guyanese will take a hit if US passes Bill to tax remittances

May 22, 2017 News

– Minister of State

By Abena Rockcliffe-Campbell

Guyana is among the 42 countries listed in a new Bill that has been sent the United States of America’s House Judiciary Committee. The Bill aims to tax remittances. Minister of State, Joseph Harmon said that this Bill, if approved will have an impact on Guyana.
“Clearly that is going to affect us, as the saying goes when certain people sneeze everybody else catch a cold…When the Americans make the law we will have to deal with the consequences of it,” he told journalists recently.
“It will cost you more to send money from the US to Guyana. As you know remittances have been a major plank in the sustenance of many families in this country and I think it is going to have an impact on them. But certainly we have to see what happens. It may very well be that instead of getting US$100 you get US$90.”
Harmon said that there is nothing that Guyana can do to cushion the blow. “There is nothing that we as a State can do about the way another country makes its laws. All we can do is to encourage the people who send money to their families here to increase the amount.”
The Bank of Guyana 2015 annual report stated that the inflow of workers’ remittances decreased by 9.9 percent or US$28.9 million to US$264.6 million while receipts from bank accounts abroad increased by 3.6 percent or US$9.0 million to US$258.4 million. “The main sources of outflows were remittances to bank accounts abroad, and workers’ remittances which amounted to US$145.4 million and US$109.4 million respectively.”
A decrease in remittances will not only affect individual families but will also impact the economy.
US President Donald Trump had promised to build a wall along the southern U.S. border to stop illegal immigrants and have Mexico pay for it. However, Mike Rogers, a Republican from Alabama’s 3rd District has coined a Bill that would provide financial support from people in the U.S. sending funds to the countries listed in the Bill. Anyone trying to evade the bill’s two percent remittance fee could face up to 20 years in prison and a $500,000 fine. Countries that aid individuals in evading the fee could lose their U.S. foreign aid or eligibility for U.S. visa-waiver programs
The head of US National Money Transmitters Association called the bill a “xenophobe’s hallucination,” and predicted it will end up in court if it becomes law.
Mexico is listed first. Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands are exempt, and the bill does not name the country of Trinidad and Tobago but Guyana is very much included.
Minister of State, Joseph Harmon said that the Bill, if approved, will definitely affect Guyana.

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