A petition which had 13, 460 signatures up to this morning is to be delivered to the government today calling for the removal of the 14% VAT on private education.
The petition is to be delivered to the Ministry of the Presidency and Minister of Finance Winston Jordan and Minister of Education Dr Rupert Roopnaraine.
The petition had its genesis in the Student Council of the School of the Nations but others from private and public schools and in the diaspora have also joined the protest.
Director of the Nations School, Dr Brian O’Toole today released a letter to accompany the petition.
An abridged version of the letter follows:
Over the past two weeks, as you will know, there has been extensive coverage on the radio and TV and in all four newspapers and on social media about this issue. Almost every comment has supported the abolition of the 14% tax. Indeed, almost the only comments in support of this tax have been from members of the government.
It has been argued, by members of the government, that if you partake in private education then, by definition, you can afford the 14% addition. Our petition was begun by the 6th Formers at Nations but has since been supported in great numbers from students attending a host of private and public schools.
The great majority of students attending private educational institutions in Guyana are from humble backgrounds and can only attend these places of learning as a result of the sacrifice on the part of their family members…
It has been said in the media by members of the Cabinet that they have a “choice”, I.e. the public education system. But, it is precisely because of the limitations of the public education system that thousands of parents in Guyana, from all walks of life, have made that sacrifice to move to private education. But, as Minister Jordan acknowledges, “public education is not at the stage is should be”, (Kaieteur News Feb 17th). Is the choice then to return to the very system that is in need of such help? The same decision to opt for private education has indeed also been made by a number of government ministers for their own children. If the “choice” is then to return to the very system that Minister Jordan says is the subject of a Commission of Enquiry how will that system now cope with the return of literally thousands of students to classrooms that are already overcrowded and under resourced?
It was also stated in the media by Minister Jordan that many of the 54 private education providers are not “tax compliant” and are in fact operating under some umbrella of “charter school “status and therefore not liable for tax. If that indeed is the case surely the GRA should examine exactly this issue and ensure there is level playing field for all 54 institutions. For our own part, at Nations, we are fully tax compliant and pay every cent in tax that we are legislated to pay in the form of income tax and corporation tax. We fully understand that this is our obligation and duty. Where is the justice in imposing a 14 % additional tax because apparently, some (indeed it is claimed by the Minister “many “) of those 54 institutions have engineered some form of tax loophole. Surely justice calls for fixing the system not punishing these who are already fully tax compliant and who are indeed paying millions of dollars in taxes.
It has also been suggested that institutions like Nations should simply absorb the 14% increase and add these additional millions to the existing taxes they pay. Perhaps when our suppliers do the same and absorb the VAT as their own expense then such a fine idea could be considered…
There is no political agenda behind this petition – we have avoided the overtures from a variety of political opposition who wanted to turn this grassroots response, into a political game – we have resisted all these attempts.
We make no pretence to being economists, neither are we business people, we are simply educators trying to be of service to this country that we all hold so dear.
That same desire to be of service led to the creation of the On the Wings of Words literacy programme, based at Nations, that trained thousands of literacy facilitators. It was also the inspiration behind the movement, Youth Can Move the World, that inspired thousands of youth, from every region of Guyana, to reflect on issues of gender equity, domestic violence, HIV/AIDs, protection of the environment, sexuality and then serve as mentors to other youth in their own communities. These programmes were offered for more than a decade, attracted thousands of persons from literally every region of Guyana and never at any cost whatever to those attending. If profit was the motive behind Nations we would surely have been better advised to invest those same resources in money-making ventures…
Some might argue that Nations should still pay the 14% VAT – if we are allowed a choice we would prefer to continue to pioneer the above initiatives rather than simply add to the millions we already pay in tax. No doubt other private schools have similar stories to tell – I can only share our experiences. I hope indeed that they share their stories to help the government review the 14% VAT and explore other possible streams of revenue especially as we enter a new stage of our development as one of the biggest storehouses of oil in the world.
In so doing it is surely the hope of the 13,000 plus persons who signed this petition that the government will defend, support and indeed champion the attempts of our citizens, from all corners, to improve the future for their children so that they may be given the opportunity that previous administrations may have denied them. We simply request you support for their vision, their hopes and the dreams they have for their children to simply be all that they can be.
We ask the government to change its decision on this matter. Clearly it is not an easy decision but thousands of persons from all regions of Guyana, and many corners of the diaspora, are saying that is it now the right decision to make.