Boyce: Improve tax collection

TAX REGIMES in the Caribbean must be more efficient in tax collection given the current testing financial and economic climate, says Senator Darcy Boyce, Minister of State (Finance, Investment, Telecommunications and Energy).Boyce gave this advice at the opening of the 21st general assembly and technical conference of the Caribbean Organisation of Tax Administrators (COTA) yesterday at Accra Beach Hotel and Resort, Rockley, Christ Church.“Within CARICOM, several countries are experiencing difficulties and have had to consider support from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Tax revenues have declined. “There are strains on expenditure for most governments, while there are rising payments to service national debts and increasing demand for social assistance.“We all have to increase our revenues to meet these challenges. You therefore must improve the effectiveness and the cost efficiency of your revenue collection efforts,” Boyce told the gathering of regional tax administrators.He said “innovative ideas” in the areas of management, audit and collections were pertinent to increasing tax revenues region wide.“Tax administrators must therefore come together to find solutions for the many difficulties. I encourage you to analyse the challenges, but you must also highlight the successes, and learn from each other in order to improve your collections,” Boyce added.Meanwhile, president of COTA and Commissioner of Income Tax in Belize, Marilyn Ordonez, said in the context of the global recession and financial crisis, members of COTA, which comprised members and associate members of CARICOM, were hard pressed to liberalise trade policies and remove barriers to trade and dependency on taxes on international trade.“Since the economic downturn, tax administrations are encountering growing compliance risk and greater demand from their governments to increase revenue and reduce compliance costs. Countries are also required to provide more tax care support despite the budget cuts,” Ordonez stressed.She pinpointed tax avoidance schemes involving repatriated funds, and increased awareness of international tax evasion involving offshore havens and other innovative tax avoidance schemes as some of the major issues that the IMF had indicated were plaguing Caribbean tax administrators at this time. (SR)