GRA carrying the fight, leading the way

Oct 17, 2022 Letters

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Dear Editor,

The great American philosopher and statesman, Benjamin Franklin, once said “…in this world, nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.”  It is the ironic that another set of Americans are dismissive that the certainty of taxes, and even more heretically that the full extent of taxes does not apply to them.  This is as interpreted by them, under circumstances conveniently and curiously defined by them.  This is the contention of Exxon, with its Guyana affiliate, EEPGL, moving to the Guyana High Court for judicial relief.  The company’s is going to the mat over the $4.223B withholding tax assessment bill delivered in its mailbox by the upstart and aggressive Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA).  I must say that fellow, Commissioner General, Godfrey Statia, is one audacious leader.  I say further that it is time that one Guyanese public servant, one Guyanese warrior, take the fight to these white-collar American (and British [and Dutch]) predators looking to leech every single cent out of this poor country.  Just what I expected from an old Central High School hand.

In the briefest and simplest terms, Exxon’s tax fight with the GRA revolves around what constitutes “technical fees” and “beneficial owner of…income” paid” and “income from rentals”, and whether the withholding tax rate should be “10% or 20%”, and as all these should be interpreted under a relevant Convention.  The bottom line is that GRA is sticking to its guns and insisting that the tax withholding assessment rate of 20% it employed is right, and that another $4.223B is still due.  I am awed this unyielding stance of the GRA, and I applaud it.  Somebody has got to have the guts to battle for us.

What Commissioner Statia and the GRA are doing is what Executive Director Parsram and the EPA should be making their mantra and mission in efforts to curb Exxon’s excesses, sneaky rip-offs.  Exxon is now of proven character in the dark arts of rapaciousness and roguishness, and I would advance its behaviour to that of swinishness also.  Where money is concerned, there is nothing that is too monstrously exploitative in the torrid calculations of this American company.  Nothing is off-limits, no penny to be left unexplored and un-snatched, should openings arise.  This is what I detect happening in Exxon’s court fight to evade paying the $4.223B withholding taxes assessed.

I hope that Guyanese are beginning to appreciate the magnitude of Exxon’s cash-crazed exploits against this country.  Exxon is not satisfied with the most generous and complete tax giveaway known anywhere.  Exxon is greedy enough to grasp for more tax largesse through Guyana’s Court.  Now Exxon seeks to reward itself with another tax bonanza on the sly, through using that 10% instead of 20% withholding rate.  What Exxon extracted in blood for itself in its own tax regime, is the thrust of what the company moves to the local Court to get extended in the most miniscule manner to its vendors also, and subcontractors, and who knows whomever else in the future.  This is not merely madness, this is criminal, and we should jail for life anyone-American, British, Dutch, or other-for seeking to introduce yet another financial hustle on this country.  As much as it represents a handsome payday, no Guyanese lawyer or Guyanese law firm should consent to stand in advocacy for this robber barony of a company.

To my chagrin, I recognise that that last exhortation is water on duck’s back, and falls on deaf ears.  This is what transforms what Godfrey Statia and the GRA is doing. How they lead the way in drawing a line in the sand for, taking a stand for, and leading the charge for all Guyanese citizens against America’s leviathan, Exxon.  This powerful American corporate jackal pursues every avenue, explores every nook and cranny, and maximises every opportunity for its own ever insatiable advantage.  All of this makes the GRA stance so much more inspiring.  I appreciate that this is a David versus Goliath fight, but slingshots have slowed and felled many a foe, and their utility is now beyond dispute.

It would be heartening to see and hear His Excellency Ali follow suit in this struggle over our oil wealth, which I must reduce to what it is now, a Manichean one.  It might be expecting too much, but I do wish that the Vice President had such fiber in his makeup, such scorching, courageous truths too, where this nation’s birthright is under corrosive and erosive siege.  Today it is how much taxes are to be paid; tomorrow, it may be how much air we are allowed to breathe.  I have one last word for the carpetbaggers in Exxon: take your knees off from the necks of Guyanese.  Way to go, Godfrey.  Be a warrior and leader for us, Godfrey of Bouillon in this crusade for what is right and our own.

Sincerely,
GHK Lall

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