Gov?t seeks full reform of tax system

The recent public debate has revolved around how much excise tax to impose on beer and whether the environmental tax should be one percent or two…but today key members of cabinet said that the real solution to the nation’s financial problems lies in creating a new, more equitable system of taxation. Speaking at a press briefing hosted by Minister of Information Godfrey Smith, Minister of Works Jose Coye–the administration’s point man on tax reform–said the government and its social partners have reviewed the present system and found it lacking.

Jose Coye, Minister of Works
?I think the evidence is clear that with the tinkering of the tax system, we have skewed it towards simplicity. And yes, while we may make it simple to collect, I think in the process we moved away from the distributive justice or the equity of the tax system and we may be putting the burden in places that makes it counter productive in the productive sector. So we believe the time is now for us to do that comprehensive review of the tax policy. And then what is it that we want to achieve? The policy obviously has to be principle centred in the question of the ability to pay taxation, the mitigating of any disincentives that come from any tax systems in terms of productivity, in terms of investment, savings, working, etc. So I think if we can first look at the policy that we want in the light of these realities that we are facing, we can then begin to look at our tax regime and to see what are the changes we need to make to it.?