THE EDITOR, Sir:
DESPITE the vaunted reviews, reports and reforms, many areas of our income tax administration system are unjust, bureaucratic and inefficient. One example is the process of making refunds to taxpayers. It appears that obstacles are placed in the system to ensure that repayments are postponed for as long as possible. No interest is paid by the Government. Some of these refunds represent taxes over-collected because of unjust tax laws and practices. This snail-like process of reimbursement is sarcastically and contemptuously called "fast-tracking".
I have been a taxpayer for well over 50 years. I have never owed the Government one cent. There was a time when I would be sent any refund due to me, even without requesting it. This is no longer so. Now the authorities hold it in their iron fist - sometimes for years.
TAX RETURN
My income tax return for 2004 was filed on March 7, 2005. I was asked by the Tax Department to supply some documents which my accountants had failed to send. I complied within two weeks. I have since made contact with the Taxpayer Audit and Assessment Department, East Street, and the Inland Revenue Department, King Street by telephone calls and letters. To date I have not received the refund due to me on the basis of my return. This is a simple non-contentious matter. In any reasonably efficient system, processing and payment should not take more than 30 days. The amount involved is not a fortune. I am not asking for special treatment. I do not blame the staff. I blame the system.
In July 2004, in written submissions to the Matalon Taxation Review Committee, I raised, among other things, the matter of the delays suffered by taxpayers in getting refunds due to them. Since then the system has not improved. Indeed, an extra layer of bureaucracy has been superimposed. It seems to be worse.
Every year I have to seek the help of the Cabinet Office or write to the 'Tax Czar' or the newspaper or "pull" some legitmate "string" before I get what is due to me. I have to beg for my own money. This is 'infra dig'. Perhaps the time has come for taxpayers to consider suing the government for their refunds - but this might prolong an already tedious process.
We rightly condemn extortion and money laundering. Isn't what the tax authorities are doing on behalf of the government a not too subtle form of extortion? And if technically they are not laundering my money, aren't they rinsing it - not with clean hands but with sticky or grubby fingers? It is not surprising that Government will not pay refunds as and when due, as much of the revenue is squandered - a symptom of the legacy of corruption, contempt, incompetence and crumbling institutions.
I am, etc.,
BERESFORD HAY
P.O. Box 1191
Kingston 8
