Minister of Planning, Economic Affairs and Development Dr. Kennedy Swaratsingh has revealed that the Board of Inland Revenue was severely understaffed when the current government first took office last April.
Speaking on Talk City 91.1FM on Wednesday morning, he said that weakness directly affected the country’s ability to pay bills, enforce compliance, and stabilise its finances.
“The Board of Inland Revenue, when we came into government, had a 30 to 35% employee presence, and so it was decimated, and so we had not been collecting the kind of taxes that we should have been collecting. So we had to get persons inside of there.”
But he said the problem went deeper, noting that entire categories of essential tax-enforcement staff simply did not exist.
“In the BIR, there’s an establishment position of about 60 tax officers. When we came in, there were none. And the field officers as well, again, they had none. So those are things that we had to fill in order to get people to do some of the work, reviews, and audits and so on. But statutory obligations, there’s no excuse for not fulfilling any statutory obligation when it comes to NIS, taxes, or any other obligation.”
Minister Swaratsingh insisted the government has not imposed blanket tax hikes.
“At the end of the day we have to bring places to the point where we are keeping current with where things are going, not just in terms of how much it costs to produce something, but also how these things can contribute to the government’s revenues, without having to move to areas where everybody is taxed across the board. So I wouldn’t say that we have increased. What I think we would have done is put some rationale and create a level playing field.”
He noted that the government has found ways to do so without burdening the entire population.
“At the end of the day, what the Prime Minister and the Minister of Finance have been at pains to do is to try to find ways in which everybody can contribute to the development of the economy and the burden not falling on only a few. Now, when it comes to things like alcohol and cigarettes, what is called sin tax.”
Ultimately, he says, the entire public sector must function better if Trinidad and Tobago is to restore fiscal stability, including fixing the existing manpower gaps.
“When you think of an all-of-government approach, all agencies have to be able to function in a particular way that allows governments to either reduce or manage expenditure profiles and gain revenue on the other hand.”