JG - The culture of non-compliance

From my archive of press clippings:

Jamaica Gleaner

The culture of non-compliance

published: Sunday June 22, 2008

Robert Buddan, Contributor

I support the minister of finance in his war of words and contest of will with the private sector, specifically his charge that too many companies and individuals are avoiding or evading taxes, and that the Government's priority will be to make Jamaicans tax-compliant rather than lower taxes as the private sector demands.

Read the whole article here.

Snippet(s):

"Only one per cent of registered companies account for 75 per cent of corporate taxes and 75 per cent of registered companies account for less than one per cent of corporate taxes.

Customs duties amount to only five per cent of the value of imports.

On top of this, companies get tax relief, waivers and concessions to the tune of 60 per cent of revenue collected.

All of this means that the effective tax rate in Jamaica is already very low but only a few individuals and companies are paying taxes, defying the economic argument that the lower the tax rate, the more people who pay taxes."

&

"The private sector's complaint that the charge of tax cheating is too sweeping is to miss the point purposely.

The degree of tax avoidance/evasion is so great as to justify a sweeping charge, knowing that this could not be taken to apply to every single company."