Instead of Raising Taxes, Government Wants to Collect More Money

Carla Barnett

Speaking more specifically on raising taxes, Doctor Barnett reiterated that the Government’s efforts are presently aimed at increasing the level of outstanding taxes it collects and closing loopholes in the system before it resorts to raising them.

Dr. Carla Barnett, Minister of State, Finance

“Let me put it this way. There is a need for us to improve our revenue administration. There is a feeling and the evidence suggests that there are gaps that allow revenue to not be collected. So it may be possible for us by collecting revenue administration to increase tax collections without increasing rates. And so we want to do that. And there is a feeling that if we don’t do that, if we don’t close the gaps—if we increase rates before we close the gaps—what you may actually be doing is increasing the amount of money that goes through the gaps. So we want to be able to close gaps and then we see the extent to which we may need to adjust rates. But it is a two-tiered process.”