Tax waiver discretion removed by new legislation

The Revenue Miscellaneous Provisions Bill of 2024 has been approved by the House of Representatives.

The Finance Minister will no longer have the power to waive certain taxes that are currently applicable.

The decision was made to reduce the number of discretionary exemptions that have been negatively affecting revenue collection.

Prime Minister and Minister of Finance and Corporate Governance, Gaston Browne, provided reasons for the decision.

“There are three primary taxes here, the Environmental Levy, that will be amended, as well as the Revenue Recovery Charge; you know we had come to parliament and limited the exemptions to 50 percent, we are now saying the RRC should not be waived,” he said in parliament

According to him,  “there will be no such discretion for the minister to waive any portion of that tax. I am not aware at any point that we had ever remit any part of the Tourism Guest Levy, but in the same vein of protecting government’s revenues, we are also making an amendment to the Tourism Guest Levy of 2021, in which there will be no discretion to waive,”

He mentioned that while the option to waive customs duty will continue to be available, the government will introduce a new reporting mechanism. This mechanism will require the submission of a report if the waived amount exceeds $10,000.

The report will be presented to the parliament and the public accounts committee on an annual basis for transparency purposes.

During a session with the House of Representatives, the prime minister explained that the adjustments being made are aimed at promoting tax transparency.

He stated that the strengthening of the fiscal framework is critical to ensure tax collection and protect government revenue, beyond just increasing taxes nominally.