–President Ali says more than $31B saved with govt’s tax cuts

PRESIDENT, Dr Irfaan Ali said that the Guyanese people saved some $31.4 billion following his government’s decision to slash more than 200 taxes since taking office in August 2020.

The President made this statement while speaking at the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) 33rd Annual Awards Presentation and Gala, held recently at the Marriott Hotel in Kingston, Georgetown.

The Head of State explained that when his government took office, several drastic measures were implemented to help reboot and revitalise the economy. One of those measures included the removal of the more than 200 burdensome tax measures.

“We saw this as a critical policy measure in boosting disposable income at the household level,” President Ali said.

Before the tax cuts, President Ali said that the average growth rate of tax from 2016 to 2019 as a result of those over 200 taxes, was just around 14 percent.

Dr Ali added that if this 14 percent is applied to the 2019 tax figures and that amount is compared to what was collected, it is evident that removing these tax measures meant that Guyanese could save billions of dollars.

In fact, President Ali said, “Removing the 200 plus burdensome tax measures has saved the people around $31.4 billion in taxes… at the household level this meant that roughly $180,000 per family was saved with the removal of these taxes.”

Earlier this year, it was reported that returns from VAT and excise taxes declined by 10.2 percent following tax reforms being instituted to cushion the rising cost of living.

This was according to a report from the Bank of Guyana, which said that the receipts from VAT and excise taxes were only about $22.7 billion.

The tax reforms form part of the government’s wider agenda to improve the quality of life in Guyana and address immediate economic challenges that affect Guyanese.

These include the removal of VAT from water, electricity, building and construction materials, basic food items and household necessities.

Additionally, the mining industry has benefitted from tax reliefs valuing some $1.9 billion. This was a result of the removal of 10 percent tributors’ tax, the reduction of the final tax and the removal of VAT on lubricating oils.

The government, in addressing the issue of the rising cost of living, has been working aggressively to tackle the issue and examine the best approaches. The provision of cash grants to provide people with more disposable income and help stimulate the local economy was among additional measures implemented to provide some redress to people.