The Finance Bill, 2024, was passed in Parliament yesterday.
It will provide a tax amnesty to individuals and businesses up to December 31, 2024.
Finance Minister Colm Imbert piloted the Bill, which drew criticism from Opposition MP Davendranath Tancoo, who accused the Government of providing the amnesty to facilitate law-breakers who failed to pay their taxes and discriminating against those who complied and paid their taxes.
“The move represents a tremendous loss to the treasury in favour of persons and companies who have deliberately chosen to break the law,” said Tancoo.
He argued that taxation was a source of revenue, and this amnesty was depriving citizens of that revenue as it gave companies a “bligh”.
He noted that Clause 2 of the Bill gives a “bligh” to private members’ clubs and proprietary clubs that have failed to pay their taxes, interest on the taxes, and outstanding penalties for failing to abide by the law.
This waiver, he said, was for the benefit of not only casinos but also private members’ clubs and targeted a few individuals.
Tancoo said Clause 3 of the Bill provided waivers on all penalties and interest due and payable under section 39B of the National Insurance Act, and this benefited employers who failed to uphold the law.
Clause 4 will introduce a series of waivers to facilitate individuals who have failed to pay their income taxes on time, failed to pay the outstanding interest, and the associated penalties, Tancoo said.
‘Political hypocrisy’
“This Bill is to make legal what is, in fact, an illegal act,” he added.
Tancoo, who is the Opposition’s shadow finance minister, said Clause 5 provided waivers for companies that did not pay Value Added Tax (VAT), penalties, fines and interest on these debts.
“These are businesses that have robbed the people of this country of due tax revenues,” he argued.
He questioned what the dollar value of this amnesty was and called on the Minister to provide the names of the companies that will benefit.
“Tell us, so that we would be able to see if amongst these companies that are declaring hundreds of millions of dollars in profit, are those very same companies that are refusing to pay their taxes,” he said.
Tancoo also took issue with granting the Minister the power to extend the amnesty without having to come to Parliament.
In response to Tancoo, Imbert dared the Opposition to not support the Bill, claiming that UNC supporters also stood to benefit.
The Minister said the Covid-19 pandemic created a situation where businesses were locked down, the borders were closed, and people could not earn income.
He said this impacted the country, including small, micro, and medium enterprises.
He said a former UNC Government had also implemented both tax and national insurance amnesties.
Imbert reiterated the impact of the pandemic on businesses.
“There isn’t a single supporter of the UNC who isn’t in favour of this particular tax amnesty and this national insurance amnesty, so it is political hypocrisy of the highest! Hypocrisy! And I dare them to vote against it, vote against it now and go and report to your supporters that you voted against a tax amnesty that is designed to help them and designed to help everybody else who is struggling in this country,” said Imbert.
He said there was no doubt that people were still at the lowest end of the spectrum, still trying to recover from the hardship imposed upon them by public health restrictions and travel restrictions.
A number of small, micro, and medium-sized enterprises were unable to fulfil their statutory obligations, he maintained.
He added that the proclamation of the Public Procurement legislation introduced a new regime a couple of years ago, where now, in order to qualify to tender to provide goods and services to a Government enterprise, tax and national insurance clearance must be obtained.
Imbert said this was an added obligation on small businesses, and because they had to recover from Covid-19, they were unable to get these clearances.
Bill summaryThis Bill is a money Bill and in essence creates a tax amnesty. |
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