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The GRA and Guyana in 2017; the GRA and Guyana in 2018

Apr 18, 2018 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

Last year around this very time, the Guyana Revenue Authority issued a press release on me. It accused me of uncouth behaviour towards the administrative assistant to the GRA boss, Godfrey Statia. I didn’t respond to the press release because none of the mainstream media houses – both electronic and print- carried it.
The issue was the GRA’s incompetence, an attitude, which gravely affected me while fulfilling my tax duty to my country. One year later, we are in the season of tax submission and once again, the GRA has shown how pathetically incompetent it is. Tuesday morning was déjà vu. This was the Khurshid Sattaur mess all over again without the PPP government and Khurshid Sattaur of course.
Let’s recap what happened last year and then I will describe the nightmare that my wife and I had with the GRA again on fulfilling my tax duty.
Last year, the GRA announced that one of its drop sites was the City Mall. I do my exercise in the National Park each morning with my dog, so the site was convenient for me. But parking would be a problem. I decide I will cheat the system. I will use Republic Bank customer’s parking right opposite City Mall by doing a quick transaction at the bank so I could get the parking paper.
I left my dog in the car park, went over to City Mall to drop off my tax return. It was 8:15. AM. I waited until 9:30 AM and the GRA’s drop box people were yet to show. I had my dog in the car park alone. I left City Mall nearing 10 AM and there was no GRA presence. This is the contempt the state has for people in this country, from colonial time right up to 2018.
I was so angry that I raised my voice at Mr. Statia’s administrative assistant. I had tried for fifteen minutes to get Statia. I made no apologies then, I am not making any now. The GRA is an enduring manifestation of incompetence. But then again, this is a reflection of Guyana’s nature. The administrative assistant then decided to placate me by suggesting that she would send someone out of the building if I drive to the GRA to collect my tax return. I told her that I cannot park outside the GRA because two policemen are there and they will tell you to move on.
She said that the fellow would be there waiting on me so I would drive, stop for a second and he will collect it through the car window.
I followed her instructions. Do you want to know what happened? No guy was there to greet me. The policeman said, “Move on, you cannot stop there.” But luck was on my side. I told the policeman, my dog was in the car and I just wanted to drop of my tax return and it will take just a few seconds. There and then, I met a nice traffic rank. There was no GRA guy waiting for me. From the time she spoke to me, she was done with me. It wasn’t her fault. It was the fault of the country, which I was born into. That was April 2017. Let’s describe the GRA in April 2018. What a sad country this is. Only a fool would take his money and invest in this tenth rate banana republic.
The GRA’s instruction is that tax returns have to be filed online. I had a huge problem. My computer is broken. I couldn’t go online. My wife said; “Phone them and see if they will give you the forms.”
These were my exact words to her. “I dread calling those people.” The telephone directory has two numbers for the GRA. When you call, a recorded voice instructs you to dial the extension you want if you know it or dial zero for the operator. You are also instructed to dial three extensions for tax assistance – 1201 -1204. When you dial zero and wait, a voice comes on saying that number is not available. When you dial the three extensions, a voice comes on telling you those extensions are not available.
My wife and I tried for over an hour to get to the GRA to ask a simple question but we failed. I called up Leonard Gildarie of this newspaper for a direct line to some big wigs at the GRA but he said he only had a cell number for a certain GRA senior official. Will Mr. Statia issue another press release on me?

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