Audley Shaw could perhaps be faulted for the tone of his delivery and even his body language - for the sense that he is still on the hustings and not yet sitting quite comfortably in the job of finance minister.

But get to the substance, as opposed to the form, and there can be no denying the fundamental truth of what he has been saying. The fact is that tax cheating, in contrast to legitimate avoidance in accordance with the law, is a major problem in Jamaica.

It is also true that the private sector, speaking generically, often dodges paying taxes and sometimes colludes with public officials to rob the treasury. This collusion, it is widely perceived, is particularly rampant at the Customs Department.

perceptions not new

These perceptions about tax cheating did not originate with Mr Shaw, nor were they uttered for the first time when the minister spoke at the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica's economic forum a fortnight ago. Of course, it might have grated some people that the finance minister was so blunt to an audience that included Luis Alberto Moreno, the head of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). But then, Mr Shaw, as he said, felt he was among friends. The IDB is a partner with whom he could be frank.

In any event, Mr Shaw's predecessor, Dr Omar Davies, made essentially the same point for several years: the need to widen the tax net to capture those who now escape its cover and to have all those caught to pay their fair share.

stark data

The very case was made by Bruce Golding, the prime minister, during his intervention in the Budget debate on April 22, as was alluded to in these columns previously. Indeed, the data provided by the PM were, and remain, stark:

On average, Customs collects five per cent of the value of imports.

One per cent of registered companies account for 75 per cent of corporate taxes, while 75 per cent of such firms pay less than one per cent.

Apart from employees who are on Pay-As-You-Earn payrolls, only 4,000 individuals pay income tax, when the Government estimates that the number should be closer to 250,000.

And, as Mr Shaw has been famously reminding people, outside of interest and penalties, delinquent taxpayers owe the Government an estimated $59 billion, more than enough to wipe out the Government's fiscal deficit.

juggling societal demands

These are real problems confronting the Government as it juggles with the competing demands of the society; from creating an environment for growth to maintaining the infrastructure. Indeed, as Mr Shaw has said, if he were able to collect the outstanding taxes, there would be less need for the Government to borrow and, therefore, no crowding out of the private sector: a major problem solved.

The issue is how to get this done, which, having got past the minister's inelegance and bombast, is what we understood to be the larger point of his Nethersole Place remarks; not a wholesale condemnation of the private sector or its representative institutions.

The minister feels that fixing the administrative systems to collect what is owed has to come ahead of more fundamental reforms that will include lowering marginal rates. It is a worthwhile debate that can be engaged, and concluded, with civility.