Jamaican Government To Focus On Tax Evasion

by Phillip Morton, Investors Offshore.com

27 November 2009

Jamaican Minister of Finance, Audley Shaw announced on November 24 that he will tabling a draft in parliament which will outline reforms to the administrative structure of the jurisdiction’s tax system.

The text, he explained, would seek to address key issues such as the separation of the process of domestic and international taxation, and positioning Ministry departments and agencies in this regard, in order to cauterise the incidence of tax evasion, and corruption.

"The Customs Department will be turned into an Executive Agency, and domestic tax administration will concentrate more efficiently on the critical areas. [Under these plans] we will enhance the Inland Revenue service, and improve Jamaica’s audit and assessment, and compliance-tackling capabilities, [this will aid us to tackle] one of the highest rates of tax evasion and avoidance in the world," Shaw said.

"We fully understand that part of the challenge we face now is that we can't reduce evasion by threats of law enforcement and punishment. I think, more importantly, it has to be achieved by encouraging the development of a culture of paying taxes.”

Shaw commented that many challenges lay ahead for Jamaica in this respect. He stated that the administration would need to not only to make tax collection more efficient, and improve compliance, but also to ensure that there is no corruption by government officials.

Shaw pointed to the support which has been forthcoming from multilateral agencies, such as the United States’ Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and the Treasury, and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Shaw observes that this assistance would be instrumental in the fight against tax evasion.

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