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Jagdeo’s misconception of tax amnesty led him down a pathetic road- Finance Minister
Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo
By Abena Rockcliffe-Campbell
“I do not know what is all this nonsense about moral hazard that (Opposition Leader Bharrat) Jagdeo is talking about with the tax amnesty,” declared Minister of Finance Winston Jordan.
The Minister said that Jagdeo either does not understand the amnesty or is deliberately seeking to mislead the public.
At his most recent press conference, Jagdeo said that he, like the International Monetary Fund (IMF), is worried about the possibilities of corruption permeating the amnesty process. Jagdeo said that in the amnesty process, “deals” are cut, and such transactions may not be above board.
He said, “(The IMF) spoke about the moral hazard of tax amnesties. Obviously they are unhappy about this tax amnesty that the Minister announced in the Budget.”
Jagdeo continued, “People know that when you have tax amnesties, anyone can go in there and work out special deals because it is not transparently done. We should ask the head of GRA (Guyana Revenue Authority) to publish all the write offs that have been given to people.”
Jagdeo said that the nation should demand to know “how many companies received amnesties. You are not asking how much money they paid because that should be confidential but we can ask how much money they wrote off for whom and that should give you a clue.”
Minister of Finance, Winston Jordan
According to Minister Jordan, Jagdeo’s utterances are indicative of his ignorance of the process or his inclination to deliberately mislead the public.
Jordan explained that the amnesty is not on tax. He said, “There would be no reduction of tax; none at all.” The Minister repeated what was explained before — that the amnesty is on the penalties that may have been attached to sums of tax payment.
He said that there can be no corruption in that process because no one has to decide what percentage is being cut.
When Jagdeo spoke about the amnesty, he said that IMF expressed worry about it in its most recent staff report. However, he did not make the report available. He did not even quote directly from the report.
Also, IMF usually uploads staff reports to its site as soon as they are released. No such report has been uploaded.
Further, the Minister of Finance said that he is yet to receive the IMF report for its last staff analyst.
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