Ashford W. Meikle, Staff Reporter
Keene
THE TAX Administration Directorate (TAD), the country's tax revenue body, says it is on track to collect budgeted revenue for the rest of the financial year.
"We're expecting that in February and March we will more or less meet our targets," said Vinnette Keene, Acting TAD director general during a press briefing held yesterday at the Ministry of Finance and Planning's National Heroes' Circle office. The Finance Ministry was providing an update on the department's performance.
Mrs. Keene's comments come despite the shortfall in tax collection for the period April-December 2005. Up to December last year, tax collection amounted to $128.4 billion, 11.6 per cent below the budgeted amount of $113.5 billion a $14.9 billion variance.
The budgeted target for tax
collection is $13.99 billion for February and $21.3 billion for March. However, the Govern-ment's target fell marginally for January where $15.78 billion was budgeted for and tax collection came in at $15.22 billion.
The Tax Administration Directorate authorities have signalled their intention to aggressively pursue tax dodgers.
With the economic challenges facing businesses, Mrs. Keene acknowledged that "there were real constraints in the context of tax collections last year."
Citing the consistent flouting of tax compliance by tax dodgers, she warned there would be stiff penalties for tax dodgers.
"I hope that attitude adopted by that set of persons is supported by the acceptance of the enforcement action that the Tax Administration will take and they are willing to take responsibility for having taken that stance against tax application," she said. "We will use the full force of the law in those instances."
She noted that the Directorate had outlined a three-year action plan for the agency. "We have four core strategic objectives in tax administration for the 2006/2009 period," Mrs. Keene said. These are:
1. Collect outstanding revenues.
2. Increased compliance through improved service education and enforcement.
3. Maximising information technology for improved information and communication.
4. Improving organisation and management.
She also noted that a number of new service initiatives were on track for this year including the automated motor vehicle system (AMVS) to allow for speedier processing of motor vehicle registration certificates and titles.
