I have tried to make it clear that my treating with tax reform in my current columns has been deliberate. It is entirely based on the establishment last December, 2011 of a Tax Reform Committee by the incoming Ramotar administration. I share the view that the tax system is in dire need of reform, but I hold firmly to the position this is best accomplished through a National Commission on Tax Reform, in which key stakeholders are represented. Only such an august and representative body could command the legal, administrative, consultative, and institutional gravitas required for full public participation in this endeavour. Already there are complaints that the public has little or no idea of what the Tax Reform Committee is doing, when it is expected to complete its task, or even if public involvement is encouraged.
Readers should recall that, less than six months ago, the outgoing Jagdeo administration had laid in the National Assembly its cornerstone economic strategy document, which boasted its ongoing Tax Reform Action Plan (in force since 2003) was a “tremendous success.” Support for this assertion was illustrated in the claim that tax revenue had been growing at an average annual rate of 13 per cent since then.
It should not escape alert readers this rate of growth is about five-to-six times faster than the real growth of