The 20th General Assembly of the Caribbean Organization of Tax Administrators is meeting in Belize this week for a four day conference. 16 Caribbean countries who are represented, will share ideas and experiences on modernizing tax administration locally and regionally. Sounds like a drag, doesn’t it? But the organizers reminded us that though nobody likes to be taxed, taxation is a serious business.
Evelyn Wayne, CARICOM Program Manager
“Tax administration is an important element of the government portfolio. Without the taxes generated by those departments, many of the government programs would not happen. So the tax administration units are a great significance to governments.”
Joe Waight, Financial Secretary
“Some years ago the dependence on what we call direct taxes on imports. In the Caribbean we’re all surviving off tax on imports; tax on gasoline, tax on liquors, tax on many items because we’re a big importing economy. But as we join CARICOM and other free trade arrangements, maybe we’ll join in the future the Central American Free Trade Organization, but as we join these to try to promote production and trade, the downside is we have to lower taxes and at some stage there will be zero taxes across borders to promote trade and integration. But we have to make up the tax from somewhere so the shift will be to indirect taxes, taxes like a consumption tax, GST tax on goods and services internal to the economy. A government has to survive, needs its resources. It has to depend, survive really, from taxes from somewhere. If the shift is from direct taxes, it will go to indirect taxes but taxes can’t disappear.”
The conference ends on Thursday.
