MINERS are expected to experience tax relief with the National Assembly’s approval last evening of the Fiscal Enactment Amendment Bill No. 2 of 2022, which was successfully piloted and debated by Senior Minister in the Office of the President with Responsibility for Finance, Dr. Ashni Singh.
Absent from the National Assembly were the members of the main opposition – A Partnership for National Unity+Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC).
Dr. Singh emphasised that the bill primarily gives legislative effect to the commitments made by government to the mining community during a meeting at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre last May.
During the debate, the Finance Minister reminded the National Assembly that, “It was in fact our predecessors in office-the APNU+AFC who in the first instance doubled the Tributor’s tax from 10 to 20 per cent and then only when the People’s Progressive Party then in Opposition, highlighted the devastating impact that this increase would have on the gold mining industry that they eventually relented and reverted in 2018 from 20 back to 10. We are seeking now to remove that 10 per cent tax altogether. And I say this because this was a measure amongst the several punitive measures implemented by the APNU+AFC with no concern whatsoever for the impact that such measures would have on the industry, on production and on the people.”
On May 31 last, Vice-President Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo had met with the Guyana Gold and Diamond Miners Association (GGDMA) at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre (ACCC), following which, government announced a number of measures that would be taken to provide relief for miners as well as in fulfillment of the People’s Progressive Party/Civic’s (PPP/C’s) promises to miners as outlined in its manifesto.
The measures include the reduction of final tax from a maximum of 3.5 per cent to 2.5 per cent which would result in an estimated $1.4 billion being returned to the mining industry, and the removal of the 10 per cent Tributors’ Tax that would benefit thousands of workers in the industry with $300 million expected to be returned to those who were paying this tax.
Further, during the previous Sitting of the National Assembly, Minister Singh had also presented Value-Added Tax (No.3) Order 2022, which was Gazetted earlier in July, removing Value Added Tax (VAT) on lubricating oil, a key input in not only the mining industry, but almost all the productive sectors.
In total, all measures allow for the return of a total of $1.9 billion to the mining industry. (Ministry of Finance)
