SHALIZA HASSANALI
shaliza.hassanali@guardian.co.tt
Brace for a tough budget.
The warning came from Minister in the Ministry of Finance Allyson West yesterday, as the country waits for Monday’s budget presentation from Finance Minister Colm Imbert.
Following the opening of the Senate at the third session of the 11th Parliament, West admitted that preparation for the 2017/2018 budget, which started since May, involved a lot of work and sleepless nights.
Asked how she would describe the upcoming budget, West replied, “I think it is going to be a tough budget, as suggested in Wednesday’s session.”
Her reference was to Wednesday’s Spotlight on T&T’s Financial Circumstances forum hosted by Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley.
“We have to get to the point where we acknowledge that we are not in the best of situations and that everybody needs to contribute to getting us out of it. And the budget will reflect that. I don’t think it is going to be as austere as people believe it will be. But it will be up to you to judge when you hear it.”
Told that people have been posting on social media a list of measures Government intended to impose, mainly an increase in taxes and cut in subsidies, which has been triggering fear and panic among the population, West urged society to take things easy and not to believe everything they read.
West opted not to say what was the most worrying aspect for her in this year’s fiscal package, saying Imbert and his team did the majority of work in finalising the budget.
“The most challenging part of the budget was balancing it.”
Her contribution in the last three months focused on the administration of taxes, she said.
West also said she was confident the process of compliance with the T&T Revenue Authority (TTRA) will be implemented this year.
“We are moving towards the process of the TTRA. We hope to get that done soon so we are expecting to see a significant improvement in the compliance area.”
She said it was alarming that scores of people have evaded paying taxes for years.
“It is very alarming and even beyond that, that is why we need to take the responsibility of ensuring that they do pay, whether it is by providing better services, systems and education and then ultimately ensuring that compliance measures are put in.”
While the Board of Inland Revenue has the authority in collecting taxes, West said they do not exercise them.
“We need to encourage and educate and then, in the final analysis, use the big stick if we need to.”
Having a background in taxation, West said the Government was also moving towards more equity in the system.
“The way I see equity working really is less in the structure with the tax system because as reasonable as it is, it does need some tweaking. But it really is compliance and we are moving towards getting there. Next week’s budget would not do that.”