THE National Assembly passed the Tax (Amendment) Bill 2016, which will now see the increase in airport travel tax from $2,500 to $3,500. The Bill was passed on Friday after

intense deliberations.
Travellers leaving Guyana pay what is commonly referred to as an ‘airport tax’ of $4,000. Of this amount, $2,500 accounts for travel tax while the remaining $1,500 is a security tax. However, the successful passage of the amended bill will now see the travel tax increasing by $1,000.

The Bill was presented by Finance Minister Winston Jordan, who noted that the Commissioner-General of the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) is now able to appoint agents for collection of the travel tax and for the remission of the tax to the commissioner.
He also revealed to the House that the current GRA Commissioner-General is in talks with a body that will be paid a commission of 1.5 per cent to collect the increased travel tax. He said too that the tax will be included in the cost of the airline ticket, after which it will be remitted to GRA.

The explanatory note of the Bill states that, “A carrier or a collection agency who fails to remit the travel tax to the commissioner, or a carrier who fails to remit travel tax to an agent or the commissioner, shall be liable to the prescribed penalty.”
Minister Jordan also suggested that the inclusion of this tax in the price of an airline ticket will now result in one less line at the airport. But it was immediately rejected by Opposition Chief Whip, Gail Teixeira, who reasoned that travellers will still need to line up to pay the $1,500 security tax.

She further questioned why a 1.5 per cent commission must be paid to an external body, when there are less than 10 staffers who collect over $2M in travel tax at both the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA) and the Eugene F. Correia Airport.
Teixeira, who spoke to an almost empty House, also rhetorically questioned how the external body will collect this increased travel tax when the Tax (Amendment) Bill 2016 allows that body to collect only monies from tickets sold in Guyana. She pointed out that in this technologically driven age, airline tickets are sold online from any country.

“I believe the minister should pause, go back and consider and come back to the House with something that makes greater sense,” she said, adding that the PPP is willing to work with government to develop a better Bill.
But it was Jordan who would have the final say, positing that the Tax (Amendment) Bill 2016 only changes the way in which the increased travel tax is collected.
“We are just changing a method of how we collect a tax,” he informed the western side of the House.
But despite the Opposition’s objections to the Bill, which its Chief Whip described as having “nonsensical aspects,” it was passed in the National Assembly by a government majority vote.