Local business people never got these kinds of concessions

Jun 14, 2017 Letters

Dear Editor,
The debate is ongoing on duty free concessions and its abuse over the years.
From my little recollection, when the idea was born to offer tax waivers to remigrants, it was birthed in the argument that these persons would be coming back to Guyana, bringing back their savings and knowledge to invest here and develop this country of ours. It was the thinking that since these persons were living abroad, an attraction would be to have them pay no duties and taxes or as little as possible to bring back their personal belongings. We all know what happened next.
The system was heavily abused. Very quietly, scores of overseas-based Guyanese came here, brought back especially high-end SUVs like BMW, Lexus, Infiniti, and Mercedes Benz, cleared them and left them in the hands of their families and friends. It is rumored that many of these so-called remigrants only came back home to bring back their luxury vehicles, leaving them with a power attorney, in the control of someone else.
For their role, they collected a fee, said to be substantial. When taken into account that the taxes and duties on SUVs are in the millions, it can be concluded that the state has lost hundreds of millions of dollars overtime because of this racket. There were, of course, supposed to be checks and balances to ensure these remigrants are living here and that they were legitimate. They had to submit their passports to show they were living here. However, somehow, the system was not properly monitored.
Today, we have scores of persons, reportedly, who are driving around with high-end vehicles that were acquired under these circumstances. There are scores of businesses in Guyana who have stuck it out in Guyana through the hard times. We struggled through the hard times, borrowing, battling crime and other issues but have never been able to benefit from these concessions. The “remigrants” have paid taxes in their home country. They create jobs, we do too. We pay our taxes.
As a businessman who has stuck around, I believe that there are a number of things that we can do as a people and government to make things easier.
For example, the duties and taxes on vehicles are a major revenue earner. I believe that when it comes to doing business, we have to break with the norms and think outside of the box.
For example, there are many persons, including business men, who would love to own a SUV. However, the taxes and duties are just too much. The state can implement new measures where there is a flat rate on SUVs…say $5M. More persons would be willing to pay this amount. It will reduce the possibilities of someone taking the risk of asking a family member who has lived abroad to collude to bring in a SUV and then flying out back. Nobody would want to take such a chance. At the end, the state will be collecting, on the long term, more revenues, while our people can have a chance at the good life. We should have a level playing field. As I said, we can think out of the box, when things are a little tough.
C. Persaud.

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