The legitimate authority for the collection of all State revenues is the GRA, and no Minister or official should have the discretion to decide what amount of such revenue should be transferred to the Consolidated Fund. If this were to happen, there would be a significant breach of Article 216 of the Constitution.
Last week’s article concluded our examination of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) report entitled “Guyana: A reform Agenda for Petroleum Taxation and Revenue Management”. The key findings were:
(a) The agreement with ExxonMobil’s subsidiaries is weighted generously in favour of the U.S. oil giant in relation to the rate of royalty, ‘ring-fencing’ of costs, taxation, and profit-sharing;
(b) There are too many loopholes in the agreement, if not plugged, could result in Guyana losing significant amounts of revenue;