By Andrew Green, Staff Reporter 
Davies
THE GOVERNMENT is on a drive to collect outstanding taxes, says Minister of Finance and Planning, Dr. Omar Davies.
Jamaican estates alone now owe about $1.2 billion to the Government in Transfer Tax after the death of estate holders. Given the country's tight fiscal circumstances, the Tax Administration Services Department is to start a drive to collect taxes which are acknowledged but not paid.
"If we collected 15-20 per cent of the amount owed to Government, we would be able to be current in terms of our outstanding obligations," Dr. Davies told a meeting of Tax Administration officers. The meeting was held at the Ministry of Finance and Planning on Thursday.
"If you look at the total amount owed by government to contractors, to persons who provide services," he said, "it is a small percentage of the amount owed to Government."
Many taxpayers are shocked at the extent of their liability when they learn of it, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) stated in their Tax Newsletter prepared just after the 2004/2005 Budget. It would help taxpayers if the revenue department communicated these assessments to the affected taxpayers promptly, the PWC newsletter stated. The Tax Administration department has to, "systematically reduce the level of arrears owed to Government," Dr. Davies said. "What is important is that we have the compliance effort up to date."
DISCOURAGING EFFECT
The PWC newsletter said the 'draconian' level of the sanctions used by the tax authorities (50 per cent penalty plus 40 per cent interest), would have the effect of discouraging delinquent taxpayers from regularising their positions.
Many complainants about tax liabilities say they don't have the resources to pay an assessment going back for several years, Dr. Davies said. "We have to get people in the discipline of paying on time and keeping
current."
There are a substantial number of citizens who are not paying their taxes or only paying part of the amount due, he said. "Those persons are operating in a twilight zone."
There has been a dramatic improvement in the system of levying interest and penalties on outstanding tax, with taxpayers generally finding out their liability when they seek to obtain a Tax Compliance Certificate, the PWC newsletter stated.
The tax system is being changed so that, "once you appear on the radar screen at customs, the GCT, income tax, all these things should be linked and you can't just disappear," he said. "A man can't import $10 million of goods and the only time you (tax authorities) see him is when he pays at customs. The Financial Secretary (Shirley Tyndale) has led the charge to change the structure tax system so you don't have this segmentation.That is the system we are going towards."
