Dear Editor,
It has been 43 years since the constitution of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana, ordered the establishment of the 10 Regional Democratic Councils as the local governing authorities for the regions, and 33 years since Order 51 established the lower-tier local governments authorities, municipalities, neighbourhood democratic councils, and to date, those authorities have not been given their full financial autonomy from central government to manage their local affairs. The Minister is now trying to centralize the system of governance with a bill to establish a single window system where everyone has to go through central government to build their property in local government areas. This move violates the constitutional authority of the councils.
Editor, at this age and time, some people still pay between $100 and $3,000 a year in property tax in some local authorities’ areas, which cannot even buy long boots. If the government doesn’t want the people to pay for the local government services, which are needed for the development of an area, then an alternative financing mechanism for NDCs and municipalities should be put in place. For example, local democratic organs should have the authority to value properties in local government areas every 3 years, and a 1% tax charged on non-business properties and 1.5% on business properties.
All licenses for businesses in local government authority areas, including vehicle licenses, should be paid to the local authority where the person is resident, so that local authorities can earn to execute their lawful functions. Another example is councils should pay VAT from what they earn to the state, and should in turn benefit from a percentage that the government earns in a local authority area. We must remember that oil profits will rise and fall, so let systems be put in place for local government authority areas to remain economically viable.
Sincerely,
Michael Carrington
People’s Development
Movement