Dear Editor,
During the just concluded November 2011 General and Regional Elections, political parties campaigned rigorously and laid out their plans for the people should they win the elections. It is now time for the people to stay engaged in the political process to ensure that promises made on the campaign trail are made good.
If there is one thing that practically all of us would agree on it is the fact that there was a common acknowledgement by the main political parties that the high Value Added Tax (VAT) was a burden on every Guyanese. This acknowledgement caused parties to present tangible options to reduce VAT from 16%, and a perusal of the parties‘ manifestos might reveal these and other tax related pledges made to the people. The AFC and the APNU promised a reduced VAT rate of 12% and 10% respectively. Donald Ramotar, then presidential candidate for the PPP/C, promised that VAT would be reviewed with the aim of reducing it; in fact he told the nation, that should he become president, he will set up a committee to review the entire tax system with the aim of making it fairer and less burdensome on the ordinary wage/salary earner; VAT was singled out to receive special attention by his special review committee.
The PPP/C gained the government and thus Donald Ramotar the presidency, but the combined opposition received the most votes, hence they collectively secured the parliamentary majority. Ramotar’s government presented a budget with no reduction, as promised, in the 16% VAT rate. This would cause many of us to ask whether we can rely on what we hear on the campaign trail. It would be fair to therefore ask whether promises on the campaign trail were just made for political ‘gaff,‘ to sound politically correct or to take the people for another ride?
Will the parliamentary opposition renege on their promise and support the passage of a budget with no reduction in VAT? Will some sit in the parliament and decide that to abstain from voting on this issue is the best political route for them? To do any of these would be to do as Mr Ramotar has done, and shaft the people on VAT.
There are many other shortcomings and issues with the 2012 Budget that demand careful scrutiny, but it would make for a greater travesty should the budget pass without reducing the VAT from that burdensome 16 percent.
The government boasts every year of how many billions VAT rakes in, but yet they are unprepared to release this lasso from the pockets of the ordinary Guyanese. I believe that the government failed to listen to the people on this particular issue, and it is sad that in a country which professes to be democratic, it appears that the majority views are irrelevant. It was unthinkable that with all the public outrage against VAT that the government decided to table a budget in the National Assembly with no reduction in VAT.
Yours faithfully,
Lurlene Nestor
