Archives for August 10, 2016
GRA hunting businesses that cheat VAT system
August 10, 2016 By
The Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) tax agents will be hunting down businesses that have been dodging Value Added Tax (VAT), causing billions in losses for the Authority, Commissioner General Godfrey Statia said on Monday at a Finance Ministry press conference.
He stated that the GRA was shifting gears to enforcement activities, and has decided to go after businesses to get compliance with VAT payments. He revealed that there were instances where VAT leakages occurred, costing millions.
“That is why you have to shift emphasis and do more post-clearance audit and more investigations and these things,” he said.
Finance Minister Winston Jordan stated that the GRA had “let the Government down” in the area of VAT refunds and collections.
“I feel this is an area that GRA has really let the Government down in many ways in aspects of refunds, not paying people their refunds on time, people benefiting from refunds they should not have received,” he bemoaned, stating that in many instances the VAT department of GRA acted like a “post office”.
Jordan said the VAT refunds were one of the heavy financial burdens that the coalition Government inherited. Statia said measures were in place to revamp the criteria for granting VAT exemptions that amount to as much as $20 billion for the first half of 2016.
“What we are trying to do is to tighten it whereby ourselves – the Ministry of Finance, GO-Invest and GRA – we sit down and by which we could grant exemptions rather than being granted on a willy-nilly basis as I have seen,” he said.
He also indicated that the Authority has started clearing off years of VAT refunds, beginning from 2013.
He stated that the tax collection agency has paid out $2 billion in refunds for the year and that figure was projected to climb to $5 billion by year-end.
M&CC is there to serve citizens, not bully them
August 10, 2016 By
Dear Editor,
There seems to be two predominant misconceptions prevailing at City Hall. Firstly, they seem to think that local democracy; something that the citizens of Georgetown have been clamouring about for decades now and for which they are entitled to and deserve; begins and ends with the holding of Local Government Elections. They clearly do not understand that this is just merely one pillar of democracy. Why else would they embark on numerous undesirable, unscrupulous and burdensome initiatives without even consulting with the citizens of Georgetown, whom are the ones to be affected and whom these municipal officials work for and are paid by? Have they never heard of Town Hall meetings that are held by cities all over the world, a forum that is used to canvas the support of and consult with the citizenry? Why else would they decide to arbitrarily and unilaterally increase property taxes beginning from the next financial year without consulting the taxpayers? Do property owners have to pursue legal redress in order to obtain justice the way the Private Sector Commission and the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce did to get relief for the shipping companies and importers with the preposterous container fee? What is needed is a new valuation of properties in Georgetown, not an arbitrary across the board increase in property rates. This is a lazy man’s method of increasing revenue.
A valuation exercise would ensure that the owners of the new gigantic buildings that have sprung up all around the capital pay their fair share, whilst a capricious increase allows them to continue taking advantage of undervaluation whereas ingenuous taxpayers will be subjected to further financial hardships. Secondly, the Fantastic Four clearly believes that the Georgetown City Council is not a municipality but rather a privately held company for which they are the owners and directors. That could be the only explanation for why they have municipal workers operate daily in conditions akin to those that greedy private sweatshop owners provide for their workers for the purpose of saving costs to increase their profit margins.
Why else would they be flying around the world in luxury utilizing Council’s supposedly scarce fiscal resources, whilst withholding salaries and wages for weeks leaving workers to agonize? Why else would they abuse their municipal workers by deducting contributions for the National Insurance Scheme and the Guyana Revenue Authority without remitting them to these agencies? This type of criminal behaviour is normally perpetuated by greedy private business owners who convert employee contributions to their own unrelated uses. Why else would they remove City Constables from protecting municipal properties, including markets, and from patrolling the streets of Georgetown to make them safer, and convert them into drivers and bodyguards for themselves and private security for their residences?
The Minister of Communities has a duty to make the Mayor, the Town Clerk and other errant Councillors and senior officers who are the anchors that are dragging the city down, understand that they are not imperial overlords but rather public servants, that they are there to serve the citizens, business owners, and visitors to Georgetown, not to bully them, over tax and exploit them, that they are there to provide municipal services, not extravagantly spend on themselves.
Yours faithfully,
James McOnnell
Local basketball clubs set to resume practice at Sports Hall
August 10, 2016 By
The National Sports Commission (NSC) has given permission for local basketball clubs to resume practice at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall (CASH) after the facility was recently renovated for the country to host the Caribbean Basketball Confederation (CBC) U-16 Championships.
The hosting of the Championships meant that the facility was upgraded to international standards; as such, allowing the local clubs to train at CASH is expected to aid in raising their level of play.
Only days ago, the Guyana Amateur Basketball Federation (GABF) and Youth Basketball
Guyana had training sessions for the selection of the team to participate in the male FIBA Centrobasket Under-15 Championship. The Championship will take place from August 24 to August 28 in Patillas, Puerto Rico.
Police continue to probe teen’s death, foul play not ruled out
August 10, 2016 By
Police are trying to reconstruct the scene in which 17-year-old Andel Daniel allegedly accidentally shot himself at Cathrinaburg, Canje Creek, last Thursday.
Divisional Commander Ian Amsterdam says the Police have not ruled out foul play.
According to Amsterdam, the Police were able to get vital information from the man who took the injured teen in a paddle boat to seek medical attention. The man is the only person who allegedly saw Daniel at the home after he was shot.
“That man said when he saw him, he had the gun in his hand: he was using it like a walking stick. So he was limping with that as a support heading towards the boat.”
It was reported that Daniel, of Caracasville, West Canje, was descending the stairs of a farmhouse at Cathrinaburg, armed with a loaded shotgun, when the stairs collapsed and a round was discharged from the weapon, hitting him in the abdomen. He was rushed to the Barakara Health Centre by a Neighbourhood Police Officer and was transferred to the New Amsterdam Public Hospital, where a Doctor pronounced him dead on arrival. A post-mortem conducted on the body of Daniel showed that he died of shock and haemorrhage resulting from a gunshot wound.
Commander Amsterdam said several pellets were removed from the body. “What we now have to check is that if the gun itself had the spent shells, so we would now have to take all the pellets to check and see if they came from the spent shell and if that was actually the weapon used. Then we will have to put the pieces together to see how the firearm went off hitting him in the abdomen.”
The Police have so far been able to determine that the firearm, which was recovered, is unlicensed.
“We are talking to the relatives who have their own suspicion and they are all saying that it was as a result of an accident and that the gun belongs to him,” Amsterdam said. (Andrew Carmichael)
Brathwaithe to Captain WI against India in Florida
August 10, 2016 By
Allrounder Carlos Brathwaite, who has played only eight T20Is, has been appointed the new West Indies T20 captain for the two matches against India later this month in Florida. Darren Sammy, who led them to two World T20 titles, was sacked and also left out of the 13-man squad. Sammy had recently posted a video on his Facebook page saying the chairman of selectors had called him about the exclusion from the squad. A WICB release said: “With regards to Sammy’s omission from the squad, the Chairman [of selectors Courtney Browne] noted that the named-squad was selected purely on players’ performances.” Sammy hardly made an impact during the World T20 in India: he faced 13 balls in his three innings, scoring eight runs, and bowled three overs, taking one wicket. “The selection panel has expressed its thanks to former captain, [Darren] Sammy for his leadership of that format of the game for the two World Championship titles in 2012 and earlier this year,” the release said. Brathwaite had struck four consecutive sixes to win West Indies their second World T20 final, in April this year, and has played seven ODIs, the CPL and a Test against India in Antigua since then. “Brathwaite is one of the most talented players in the T20 format of the game and his humble and committed approach to the game can inspire young and upcoming players,” Browne said. “We are looking forward to a competitive series against India in these matches.” Sunil Narine and Kieron Pollard, who had both pulled out of the World T20 squad for different reasons, returned to the T20 squad. While Pollard had withdrawn because of “lack of sufficient progress in his rehabilitative work”, Narine’s reason was “insufficient progress in the rehabilitative work on his bowling action”. They had both played in the tri-series against South Africa and Australia in the West Indies in June. Narine had finished as the second-highest wicket-taker in the series and Pollard scored 205 runs from seven matches at an average of 41. Denesh Ramdin, Sulieman Benn, Ashley Nurse and Jerome Taylor were left out of the T20 squad. Ramdin had recently been dropped from the Test squad too. He scored 135 runs in eight CPL matches recently after the 197 runs he scored during the tri-series at an average of 28.14. Benn took only three wickets in seven matches in the tri-series and had an unimpressive CPL with four wickets from seven matches with an economy rate of 9.19. Taylor played four tri-series matches for only two wickets but collected 13 wickets from eight CPL matches, but it wasn’t enough for him to retain his place in the national squad. Nurse played only three CPL matches without any wicket. (Cricinfo)
Kitty Market to be completed by November 1
August 10, 2016 By
By Ramona Luthi
The rehabilitation work on the Kitty Market will be completed by November 1, 2016, Town Clerk Royston King disclosed at Monday’s statutory meeting of the Georgetown Mayor and City Council (M&CC).