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alexk
Guest
The Ministry of Finance and Board of Inland Revenue (BIR) came under fire yesterday for allowing billions of dollars in tax revenue to be loss annually through non-filers without raising a finger.
The issue was raised by Ramnarine Ramdass, a chartered accountant and a former BIR employee who worked up to the level of assistant commissioner, during a T&T Revenue Authority (TTRA) stakeholders meeting with accountants and tax professionals at Government Plaza, Port-of-Spain.
The meeting was held in collaboration with the Finance Ministry and Institute of Chartered Accounts of T&T.
Delivering a presentation under the theme—A Practice in Good Governance, Dr Andre Vincent Henry, TTRA’s programme director for implementation revealed that an assessment done by Prof Karl Theodore last year gave a conservative estimate of between $11 to 16 billion in “tax revenue being loss every year” through non-filers under the current system.
Henry said a mechanism was needed to ring fence “to catch those who are engaged in bad practices as early as possible.”
He said looking out, people at BIR have been saying they were making track for agouti “the dishonest business community” to run.
With the facilitation of business and trade to allow the country to prosper, Henry said it “is seen as making an opportunity for unscrupulous business people to take advantage of the country.”
During a question and answer segment, Ramdass queried what has been preventing the BIR and the Finance Ministry from collecting those billion of dollars being loss yearly.
“We have all the laws, positions and know-how in place. Why aren’t we holding people accountable for the work they are supposed to be doing?”
Ramdass came to the conclusion that there was a tremendous amount of inaction on the part of the powers that be while staff was not being trained, stating that we are heading down a slippery slope.
“We always had an internal audit section and they are supposed to be looking after corruption. What is happening? Don’t they have somebody they report to? Don’t they have minister in charge of them?”
He said if we continue along this path, the country’s revenues will soon be dried up.
In defence, Minister in the Ministry of Finance Allyson West said the difficulty in the system was lack of accountability.
“The significant staff storage. While I recognise the need for the exclusion of the powers from these specific attempts, there is clearly a need to ensure that there is communication and action in respect to tax policies,” West said.
She said the decision as to what units the BIR are to be staffed with was solely their discretion.
“So the internal audit unit now has two people. What can two people do in the context on what we have to do?”
Decisions that are made, she said impacts on the collection of revenue.
“So that the system has to change. We need to set firewalls…but the firewalls cannot be used to debar the communication and enforcement of policy decisions.”
It was revealed that between 2008 and 2018 taxpayers have injected $400 billion in revenues into Government’s coffers.
West said the explosion of the narcotics and firearms trade, menace of terrorism, tax avoidance and the internationalisation of criminal activities have fuelled the complexities of tax administration.
She said T&T must ensure we have a tax administration that can be efficient in tax collection and duties.
Stating there was a need for fairness and equity in the tax system, West admitted that the tax burden currently falls on the shoulders of a few.
While employees have no choice but to pay taxes and some members of the business community have been compliant, West said “and what we see, is that, the people who are in the system and complying are the ones against whom all the tax collection action tend to be taken, while we leave the defaulting many out of the system all together. That is inequitable and it is demoralising. It makes paying taxes a psychological and financial burden and that has to change.”
West said the Government intends to build the TTRA with strong work rules and policies which will be buttressed by transparent and firm processes to deal with misconduct.
She appealed to the stakeholders to give vocal support for the enactment of laws to facilitate the implementation of the authority in a bid to stamp out corrupt practices by those who facilitate, encourage and instigate wrong doing.
“Because we all know tax administrators could not be corrupt unless taxpayers are encouraging them in being that way.”