The PPP/C flourished via a deficient tax system

Jun 19, 2020 Letters

Dear Editor

The American Revolution didn’t start because its people were yearning for Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness. It kicked off in Boston in 1773 when a bunch of merchants refused to pay taxes on their tea imports.
Meanwhile, race has always been the dominant narrative in Guyanese politics and indeed it is an important method of analysing the past 50 years. Nevertheless, one must also view politics, especially since the late 1990s and the rise of Western neo-liberal economics and the creation of a wealthy local elite, through the ever useful framework of the class struggle. Under President Bharrat Jagdeo, the PPP/C discarded its socialist roots and evolved into the party of business supporting the small but unified business class through the selling off of cheap State land, preferential contracts, low taxes and the suppression of public sector wages so as to keep employment costs down for the private sector. In return, the business elite generously supported the party’s political campaigns and held off criticism of corruption and extra judicial killings among other well-documented human rights atrocities.
The rise of the Alliance For Change was a major blow to this cozy alliance and after a beleaguered minority government (2011-2015), the party lost to the APNU/AFC coalition. Since then, we have seen a massive increase in public sector wages (77%) and some improvements in health, education and infrastructure although too slow in significantly improving the livelihoods of Guyanese partly due to a lack of revenues.
Meanwhile, the business class has spent the last five years fuming over the sudden efficiency in tax collection by the Guyana Revenue Authority and this is really the crux of why they have been so forceful in trying to force this government out of office. How little tax had the business class been paying under the PPP/C? Well for the incorporated businesses, in 2013 the bulk of taxes came from only a handful of reputable companies – only 992 out of 2618 registered firms actually filed a return, just one in three. For self-employed people, about half paid taxes and their average contribution was about $98,000 per year. Many simply have not and do not pay any tax while benefiting from the services of (and complaining about) the police, roads, or education (at QC of course). And one might have also noticed how vocal lawyers have been in this recent election: Back in 2013 only 170 doctors, lawyers and other professionals applied for professional certificates as part of regularising their tax status. Those consultation fees you pay in cash to see the doctor or lawyer? Statia can’t see any of that.
The GRA has been going after all businesses without fear or favour to pay their fair share and rather embarrassingly several supposedly upright and vocal captains of industry and yes even media houses, have been found to owe hundreds of millions in arrears. As for businesses paying City Hall their rates? That’s a joke.
And that is why this March 2 election was not a triumph of democracy, it was never about lifting all Guyanese up. That’s a sham. Quite the opposite. The people have been fooled by the PPP/C’s propaganda paid for by the business class who have triumphed over the working class. The rallying cry of those involved in the Boston Tea Party was “no taxation without representation. In Guyana, the wealthy will once again have representation without taxation.

Yours sincerely

Frederick Singh

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