Substantial amount of workers’ taxes owed by GuySuCo

Jan 30, 2018 News

GRA Commissioner General, Godfrey Statia

The Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) is not being drawn into the debate on the impact of a scaled-down sugar industry.
Last week, Commissioner-General Godfrey Statia made it clear that the question of the impact would be one for the politicians.
GRA would not be too impressed with the performance of the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) which until 2016 boasted over 16,000 workers in the seven estates scattered between Demerara and Berbice.
In 2016, the Wales estate was closed with three more shutting its gates last year – Skeldon, Rose Hall and Enmore. While no official figures have been given, it could be as many as 5,000 workers who were affected with redundancy letters.
As far as GRA is concerned, the impact on the Corporation Tax side would not be anything to talk about. In fact, GuySuCo has not paid Corporation Tax in the last decade because it has been racking up losses every year.
What GRA was supposed to be collecting, Statia told reporters last week at a press conference reviewing the entity’s performance, is the Pay As You Earn (PAYE) taxes. Those income taxes, in the “early days”, were over $1B annually. This fell to over $600M last year, the Commissioner-General disclosed. He confirmed that it has been a while that GuySuCo has paid the workers’ taxes.
Questioned about the impact of the recent layoffs, Statia noted that one would have to take into account the quantity of taxes and foreign exchange and the amount of transfers (cash bailouts) from Central Government annually.
Statia was however quick to point out that decisions and pronouncements of GuySuCo’s situation is all up to the politicians, not GRA.
The Coalition Government, taking office in early 2015, immediately set about to reorganize the cash-strapped GuySuCo. Once the biggest foreign currency earner, the industry has been involved in a political battle, with the unions being drawn in.
Government has made it clear that Guyana can no longer afford to keep plugging cash into the industry which is producing as three times what it is selling for.
The four estates will be privatized and divested, with several offers made.
However, the Opposition has been galvanizing the redundant workers with several meetings being held to reject the estates’ closures.
The unions on the other hand have been calling for the estates to remain open and the workers to be paid their severance.
Workers at Enmore and in Berbice began receiving their severance yesterday.

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