GRA needs to improve VAT collection — Finance Minister
Finance Minister, Winston Jordan
Finance Minister, Winston Jordan

LAX enforcement by the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) has aided in the fall-off in the collection of value-added tax (VAT) in Guyana, Minister of Finance, Winston Jordan, has said.The minister also said that before the country can even dream about continuing to give VAT exemptions or to reduce VAT, it has to make sure that the revenue body has the capacity to enforce the laws regarding VAT collection.

“This is what I have been doing for the last six to eight months with the GRA — trying to bring them around to the realisation that their first and foremost responsibility is to enforce the law and to collect the Government’s revenue,” the Government Information Agency (GINA) quoted the minister as saying.

Minister Jordan has said this is something he will continue to do. He said the Finance Ministry has been working with the revenue agency to put in place a number of measures that will see the revenue agency doing exactly that.

Reminded of the APNU+AFC position on VAT, the Finance Minister said the lowering of the tax has consequences for other things, and that is why the Tax Reform Committee (TRC), in its report, talks about compensatory measures for the proposed loss of money from the tax, which is Government’s main source of revenue.

According to Jordan, the downside is the removal of a range of exemptions offered under the VAT. He explained that the TRC report mentions both water and electricity (neither of which at the moment attracts VAT) as items that should be captured under the tax as a compensatory measure for lowering the VAT.
Minister Jordan pointed out that, given the options, the conversation has to be wider than merely addressing a reduction in VAT. He said this is the conversation the public needs to engage in.

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