With economic growth projected at just over 5 percent for Antigua and Barbuda
this year, the government is insisting the measures being taken to close existing
gaps will allow for increased revenue that is commensurate with such growth.
Cabinet spokesman Melford Nicholas acknowledged during Thursday’s Post-
Cabinet Press Briefing that for quite some time, the government has been liberal in
its approach to tax collection. But he posited that it is not too late for corrective
steps to be taken.
“The challenge is we are going to be playing catch-up when it comes to trying to
get to 25 percent (ratio of taxes to GDP as suggested by finance institutions) but
we are going to make the best effort at it to close some of the revenue leakages.
One of the areas that they commented on was the discretionary waivers we do from
time to time. Some of them have been coded in legislation particularly dealing with
new investments; that is obligatory, but there are other discretionary concessions
that are granted particularly on motor vehicles. They have asked us to look at that
and to put some restraints in place, and we will have further discussions on that
aspect,” he stated.
Another area that will be carefully reviewed is property tax collection, with a plan
to make the payment of the tax by residents more convenient.
