Dear Editor,
A little over a week ago, a contingent of Government officials went to the USA to woo Guyanese abroad to come back home and invest. This week the headline blared, “Govt. gazettes order to increase excise tax on vehicles for re-migrants,” (KN, Aug 06, 2024).
Is everybody in the Government a dunce? Is there no sane person there who can see the contradiction that one week you are telling Guyanese in the diaspora, how nice it will be to come back home and invest and live, then the next week you are making regulations that say if you come back we will make you pay higher excise taxes on vehicles you bring in to Guyana? Are you trying to encourage people to come back or discourage people from coming back?
The KN reports that “The Government has published in the Official Gazette an order that outlines the increase in excise tax for re-migrants. The order outlining the amended excise tax regulations was published in the gazette on July 30, 2024, less than 48 hours after Chief Justice, Roxane George-Wiltshire, handed down a ruling declaring the 30 percent imposition in excise tax for re-migrants was illegal.” A Mr. Basdeo had sued the GRA and he won his case.
This Government has a penchant for trying to overturn decisions that favour the people. The Government rushed to appeal a case Guyana won against Exxon on the insurance/environmental issue. The Government was on the same side with the oil barons who exploit us. When Mr. Zainul won his case against the NIS which had denied him his rightful benefits which he has been trying to get for 14 years, the Government rushed to appeal the case. That case would have benefitted all those people in similar circumstances who have been wronged by the NIS. Now that Mr. Basdeo has won his case against higher excise tax on vehicles, the Government is apparently making a move to undo the Chief Justice’s decision.
Guyanese in the Diaspora should know this Government puts on a show but really does not want Diasporans to come back. They just pretending. Once you make the mistake of coming back here, those same people who go on those foreign jaunts to the USA on our dime, will not talk to you or return your call when you come to Guyana. The system here “sucks” and is a “pay to play” system.
Instead of seeking to punish our Guyanese people, should this Government not be spending its energies figuring out how to make Exxon and friends pay their fair share of taxes, or is it a case of ‘monkey know which limb to jump on’? If the President wants Diasporans to take the Government seriously, he should order Minister Singh to rescind the gazetted order to increase excise tax on vehicles for re-migrants. Better yet, abolish all duties on vehicles coming in to Guyana for private individuals.
Sincerely,
M. Singh