The Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) raked in $17.8B for the first half of this year in Value Added Tax (VAT) and excise taxes compared to the $17.1B last year.
The mid-year financial report presented to Parliament on Thursday said that the two taxes were projected to bring in $41.4B this year compared to $36.7B last year, reflecting that this year would have represented the first full year of collections.
VAT at the end of June 2008 was $11B compared to $10.2B last year while the excise tax was $6.7B this year compared to $7B last year. The report noted that there was a $2B drop in the excise rate collection on petroleum products as the rate had been cut to cushion the impact of higher oil prices.
Internal Revenue Depart-ment (IRD) collections totalled $19B in the first half of 2008 compared to $17.4B last year. Improved private sector corporation tax performance and better returns in the self-employed category were cited.
Personal income taxes (PAYE) represented more than a third of the total IRD take – $6.6B.
