EDITORIAL - Equip the tax collectors

The finance minister, Mr Audley Shaw, has been loud about and incessant in his efforts to improve the efficiency of tax collection and the successes the ministry has been having on that score, including in widening the tax net.

Unfortunately, there has been no recent verifiable analysis of how many additional persons are on the tax roll, how much they now pay, and/or their contribution to the gross tax take. We, however, take the minister at his word.

But if we listen to Viralee Latibeaudiere, the director general of the Tax Administration Department (TAD), however well Mr Shaw's policies have gone, it could have been even better if she had had better support from the Government.

The requisite tools

In recent testimony to Parliament's Public Administration and Appropriations Committee, Mrs Latibeaudiere complained about being asked to collect more taxes without being given the requisite tools. For instance, her agency is in need of additional computers and other equipment to enhance its efficiency, but can't afford them. Nor can the TAD pay to repair some of its existing equipment. It was not allocated the money in this fiscal year's budget.

"We are under severe stress in tax administration," she lamented to committee members. "At the same time, we are required to collect more and more money every day."

We make two points.

First, we do not believe Mrs Latibeaudiere would have lightly made these observations in public, even to a parliamentary committee. They, therefore, are likely to reflect her frustration at not being provided with the requisite tools to do her job.

Not a bad strategy

Second, it is surprising that Minister Shaw did not insist that the TAD be provided with what is required to collect more taxes. After all, the minister presides over the national budget and faces the pressure of closing a yawning fiscal deficit.

Part of what the minister has done during the first seven months of the fiscal year in this regard is to underspend against projections by $13.6 billion revenue. That, on the face of it, is not a bad strategy, except that this helps to weaken economic activity and economic growth and recovery.

New and repaired computers to Mrs Latibeaudiere's department might not have caused her to collect increased taxes to the extent of the underspending. But whatever additional amounts she garnered would have been available for spending by the Government and would have provided a fillip to the economy. And it is unlikely that the cost of the new computers would have cost more than the additional tax collected.

Minister Shaw, it seems, needs to review his priorities.

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