Dear Editor,
With all the outrage being expressed by the Guyanese consumers after experiencing the ‘hands on’ effects of VAT, I thought I should voice my opinion on this entire ‘shebang’ that has caused widespread confusion.
One of the questions I would like to ask: “Was the implementation of VAT premature at this point?”
The government along with GRA should have spent more time in educating the people by holding workshops in every village, settlement, town, region, and not only focusing on the city. Had this been done the confusion today would have been less. Another suggestion is that each resident should have received a handout of the list of items that are zero-rated or exempted, this could have been done by inserting the same flyer into the GPL or the GTT bills almost everyone receives; and for the areas not having either utility, maybe a representative from each village could have been given a stipend, (if not voluntarily) to distribute this flyer to each home.
VAT is supposed to reduce the cost of living, but if anything it has inflated it 16% or more at the poor man’s expense.
While the Finance Minister may be outraged at the unscrupulous business class for charging VAT incorrectly either by tacking on 16% to the existing prices that already has the 30% consumption tax rate, or on charging VAT for zero-rated/exempted items what does he plan to do about it.
The time to act is now because while laws are being drafted the small man is feeling the squeeze, and by the time GRA catches up with all those guilty of this malpractice they would have already made a large profit at the expense of the small-man who has no way of recovering any sort of refund. The $25,000 fine for those culpable is insignificant.
I know in countries such as Canada where we pay GST & PST at 8% & 7% respectively when you file your tax returns for the fiscal year there is a part there to claim for GST. This is especially so for the single mothers and the senior citizens.
I must however add that on some items we either pay GST or PST, on others we pay both and then there are other items that we pay neither. Here again Canada is a very developed country and has a large population so the tax system is smooth.
To the business class I say shame on you! Had VAT been implemented in March 2007, instead of the first day of January of this year; wouldn’t you have kept the same prices you had at the close of the business day of December 31st 2006?
You are definitely abusing the system for your own unscrupulous gains.
To the GRA and the Minister of Finance I think you could still hold workshops and use other means of educating the Guyanese consumers as well as other small businesses that do not fall into the $10m a year turnover as a means to quell some of the hiccups the implementation of VAT has caused.
Yours faithfully,
Juliet Dukhi