Government, using its parliamentary majority, on Friday evening passed the Miscellaneous Licences (Amendment) Bill and the Hucksters Licencing and Control (Amendment) Bill but not before the opposition expressed outrage over the “astronomical increases” and called for a 50% reduction in the new fees.
Speaking first on the Miscellaneous Licences (Amendment) Bill, Finance Minister Winston Jordan said that it seeks to increase the copy of a lost licence from $200 to $1,500. He told the House that this step is in keeping with the fact that the fee has not been increased in 20 years. He said government decided on the increase after considering inflation and cost recovery efforts.
However, opposition MP Joe Hamilton said the “long and short of it is that it is a form of taxation. It is another measure that …I call a merry money making venture.” He said that since the start of the day’s proceedings government has been involved in “happy hour.”
He told the House that with the bringing of the amendment the government is attempting to go into “every pocket of the citizen to take money out of… to take out the lil change that the man is thinking to secure.”
Hamilton noted that the increase was huge
Jordan, in a brief response, called Hamilton’s comments “hilarious” and told him that he could have had a better understanding of the Bill if he had read the explanatory memorandum.
According to Jordan, if one doesn’t lose their licence then the increased fee would not be applicable.
With regard to the Hucksters Licencing and Control (Amendment) Bill, Jordan said that in addition to increased fees, it seeks to capture as part of government’s revenue and tax administration measures, those individuals who have escaped the tax net.
The new fare structure would see any huckster who travels on foot or with a man-propelled vehicle, or cycle having to pay $3,500 annually; those travelling with a horse or other animal drawn cart, the sum of $12,500 and those travelling with a motor vehicle the sum of $62,500. The old fees were $280, $1,000 and $5,000 respectively.
These fees, he pointed out, have not been changed for more than 20 years.
A huckster sells items, either door-to-door, or from a stall or vehicle and other modes of transportation.
Hamilton argued that government is trying to find monies by any means necessary much to the suffering of the ordinary man. He said they are “scraping every barrel because money must be found to run the government and to facilitate social services.” He added that with all of these new tax measures citizens will be poorer than how they were at Christmas 2015.
Hamilton stated that with these increases, a farmer now has to decide whether to feed his children or his donkey. He said the increased would affect people travelling over long distances to sell their produce just to ensure that they can put food on their tables.
He urged the Finance Minister to inform the House how much money the government is expecting to collect from all the licence fee increases this year.
“We are unable to support these draconian tax measures that will increase the burden of the ordinary and poor people of this country,” he stressed
Opposition front bencher Anil Nandlall also criticized the increases and said that they cannot be looked at in isolation as they are among 134 tax measures that have been implemented by government to burden the Guyanese people.
He said that hucksters have other expenses and this added increase will put pressure on them. He said too that one must recognise that government, in its manifesto, had said that there will be no new taxes but a better life. “This is what they get now,” he stressed adding that he feels for the vendor and the hucksters who now have to bear these “draconian measures that are coming out of nowhere.”
He said the current situation is that disposable income has now decreased, there is no reduction in VAT or no salary increase. “Cost of living is continuously escalating and there is no commensurate increase in income. What that means sir is that the average Guyanese is becoming poorer and poorer with these measures.”
Jordan in a brief response stated that the Bill was a simple one. He questioned if hucksters should not be paying tax or an annual fee.
Nandlall later proposed an amendment to the Bill which would see a 50% reduction in the fees but this was rejected by government.
Meanwhile, the Auctioneers (Amendment) Bill will see the cost of licences increasing from $3,500 to $40,000. Jordan said this was another situation where the licence fee had not been increased for over 20 years.
Nandlall, while expressing concern over the high increase, questioned the purpose of the Bill being brought before the House. He said he was unaware of the presence of auctioneers in Guyana or such an industry for that matter.
“We don’t know whether to support this or not support this. We don’t understand its relevance,” he said.
