By Alva Solomon

THE Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) is currently examining the tax arrangement governing the importation of items from Brazil at the border community of Lethem, and reports are that a 40 per cent discount on duties which traders enjoyed may be revised soon.Over the years, traders in the Rupununi administrative capital have enjoyed discounts on various items which they imported from Brazil and traded on the coastland. However, this arrangement is currently being discussed between the regional administration and GRA officials.

GRA Board Chairman Rawle Lucas told the Guyana Chronicle on Tuesday that the revenue body is trying to locate policy documents which established the existing arrangement.

“We are studying the issue; we have to understand its implications before we can make a definite pronouncement,” he said.

This newspaper was recently informed by businessmen at Lethem that the move may affect businesses in the community as well as their ability to trade various items. At the moment, businesses in the area would import various commodities, including alcoholic beverages, food and clothing, for resale in the area. There are also traders who trade the items between the location and the Coastland.

Lethem Mayor Carlton Beckles told this newspaper on Monday that there is a boundary mark for trading, whereby items such as alcoholic beverages cannot be traded past the Kurupukari Crossing on the Essequibo River.

But while such an arrangement exists, persons in the region noted, there are no stringent measures in place to curb the “smuggling” of items, such as alcohol. As a result, items are sometimes resold at more than 100 per cent of their value.

“Black Stone is a Brazilian alcoholic beverage that is in demand, and you can buy it for about $2000 when you convert the Reals in Boa Vista,” one businessman said. Gy$65 is the local equivalent of one Brazilian Real.

According to the businessman, the popular alcoholic beverage is sold for as much as $8,000., or even higher when brought to the capital city.
“So imagine a man with eight bottles. He will only spend $16,000 in Bom Fin, but when it reaches the Coast, is $64,000 we looking at,” he explained.

The Guyana Chronicle understands the move by GRA is aimed at ensuring that the requisite revenues which the importation and trade of items from Brazil attract are retrieved. At the moment, residents of Lethem and surrounding communities would venture into the border town of Bom Fin, and further into the State of Roraima, to Boa Vista to purchase goods, including foodstuff for household use.

At the same time, persons would purchase items and resell at Lethem; and persons reported recently that the items are being taxed by the revenue authorities in the area.

Lethem was made a town late last year, and its growing importance has been supported by the cross-border trade which exists via the Takutu Bridge.