-$2B in taxes lost annually from alcohol, cigarette smugglingAs the debate on taxes and collections continues, the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) has announced a rash of measures to improve tax collections next year.GRA’s senior officials: (L-R), Lancelot Wills, Deputy Commissioner of Customs Excise and Trade Operations; Commissioner-General, Godfrey Statia and Deputy Commissioner-General, Hema Khan.The idea is to collect billions of dollars from smugglers and other tax dodgers,Wholesale Jerseys China, including businesses, say Commissioner General, Godfrey Statia.Speaking yesterday at a press conference at GRA’s Camp Street headquarters Statia said that since taking up the post in July on a two-year contract, he and his team have been meeting with stakeholders, and with departmental heads now authorized to speak on their respective responsibilities.There have been a number of changes in the critical areas, including Customs,Cheap NFL jerseys China, based on meetings with businesses and assessments of GRA’s branches. The idea is to reduce congestion at the head office. The regional branches are now equipped to handle simpler transactions.Statia admitted that the GRA computer system, Total Revenue Integrated Processing System (TRIPS), has been experiencing problems. There are plans in place to stop it from “tripping”.By end of April, the authority is hoping to make changes to TRIPS to what is known asASYCUDA (Automated System for Customs Data), a special Customs programme that is in use in over 90 countries.It will not only reduce downtime in processing at wharves but allow for better information sharing with the entity.Statia explained that GRA has been paying close attention to smuggling which siphons off billions of dollars annually in revenues.For example, there is a huge smuggling racket involving alcohol and cigarettes. Guyana loses an estimated $2B annually in taxes, he said.GRA is working with Canadian Bank Note,Cheap Jerseys Paypal, which specializes in security measures to implement a stamp system that will allow enforcement officials to make inspections and determine right away whether taxes have been paid. The stamps will be affixed to the products imported into the country at the time of clearance.The Commissioner-General said that fuel smuggling is also engaging the authority’s attention.Fuel SmugglingRecent checks were made by a GRA team at Eteringbang, Region Seven which borders with Venezuela. The cheap fuel there is being capitalized on by smugglers who fail to pay up to $20M in taxes weekly in that area alone.The same situation seems to prevail at Morawhanna,Cheap NFL Football Jerseys, which is a popular area of sourcing illegal fuel for gold mining.Statia announced plans to deploy GRA officials to the area to collect the taxes. The idea is to establish a presence there to minimize smuggling and widen the tax base and reduce the burden on a few who do pay.According to the official, the problems of collecting a fair share of payments of taxes could also be blamed on businesses colluding with some of GRA “unscrupulous” officers.Statia sounded a clear warning of tough actions to reduce the corruption.Tax evasion, he complained, is estimated at between 30-40 percent.It appears that GRA will be paying less attention next year on the current taxpayers.“We have to reduce our emphasis on people that we see…people that are in plain sight, people… that are the employees…versus the businesses that accumulate wealth that pay little or no taxes.”Next year, to tackle the tax dodgers, GRA is planning to establish a Large Taxpayers Unit that will focus on compliance, enforcement, review and other things.With 80 percent of the taxes coming from 20 percent of the businesses, the possibilities of collections takes even more significance, the official said.“We could dedicate the rest of the team on what has fallen through,” Statia disclosed.Another major problem affecting GRA is the fact that the current TRIPS system is not efficient with information sharing between key departments not happening as it should.Also at the press conference yesterday were GRA’s Deputy Commissioner-General, Hema Khan and Lancelot Wills,Cheap NFL Jerseys, Deputy Commissioner of Customs Excise and Trade Operations.Statia also note that GRA has found evidence of many businesses are without licences although they are operating.Many of them claim to be out of business or have offices elsewhere. The current TRIPS systems make it difficult to deal with these and GRA has to manually handle the incidents.Not registeredThe Commissioner-General said that close to 32,000 businesses are “non-registered” but are active.It is the plan to issue provisional reg

…staff members will donate gift of life The Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company is gearing to celebrate 18 years since it started serving the Guyanese nation.This newspaper has learnt that the telephone giant will today be hosting a church service to commemorate the event, which will be officially celebrated on Wednesday.Following the planned Games Night on Tuesday and Wednesday nights, the staff members of GT&T will make a blood donation to the National Blood Bank on Friday.One of the many container exchanges which help to link Guyana The donation of blood has always been considered a gift of life.GT&T, ever since its arrival in Guyana, has made significant investment in technologically upgrading its network since commencing operations on January 28, 1991.GT&T had accepted what was a massive challenge to rehabilitate, modernise and expand the country’s telecommunications facilities and services.According to the company, it was a unique challenge.“To understand the development and expansion of telecommunications service in Guyana, one must at first understand the geography of the country.”Between its inception and now, GT&T boasts investment of millions of US dollars towards the modernization and expansion of the national telecommunications infrastructure and facilities.This investment, according to the company, is reflected in the tremendous increase in the number of subscribers the network carries; in the sophisticated,China Jerseys Wholesale, state-of-the-art technologies that have been deployed; in the exciting,NFL Jerseys Outlet, modern, feature-rich services these technologies support; and in all the advanced systems and processes that have been introduced to enhance customer experience.“Today, Guyana has a telecommunications network that is comparable to any in the Caribbean and, indeed, the rest of the world.”In the area of fibre optics, systems have been deployed,NFL Jerseys China, and fibre optic cables run from Georgetown to Diamond, to Beterverwagting, to Timehri, to Skeldon, to Linden, to Parika and Mahaicony,Wholesale Jerseys, serving all communities in their paths.These cables provide bandwidth and greater flexibility for use, and they will eventually be linked to form a self-healing ring which will allow traffic flow in either direction, and so ensure continuity in the event that the cables are damaged.A special fibre optic ring encircles Georgetown to provide high-speed data services for the business community.In the wireless sector, the company has had to be creative in order to meet the challenges of providing telephone services to the scattered population centres of Guyana,Cheap Jerseys From China, and it has pioneered the introduction of new technologies.Northern Telecoms Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) solution, for example,Cheap Jerseys Free Shipping, was brought in during 1996 to be deployed specifically in the Essequibo region. Today, FWA has spread to the West Demerara, East Bank Demerara, North and South Ruimveldt and Berbice.When the company started operations in 1991, there was one Earth Station at its Thomas Lands location to facilitate international traffic.Since then, a similar Earth Station has been constructed at Beterverwagting, and two smaller ones established at Lethem and Port Kaituma. Another Earth Station is currently being installed at Mabaruma.Demand Assignment Multiple Access (DAMA) sites have been set up at Port Kaituma, Mabaruma and Lethem to provide telephone service to the three hinterland areas which had very limited telephone service.Connectivity was made possible through Intelsat’s global service and the network formed by the DAMA sites interfacing with each other.The Submarine Fibre Optic Cable, which is anchored on the bed of the Demerara River, linking Georgetown to West Demerara, is another technological boon which the company has introduced.

The murder trial of 17-year-old Rayan Alli “Karran” of No. 54 Village,Cheap Jerseys From China, Corentyne, and formerly of Black Bush Polder began on Monday in the Berbice High Court before Justice Roxanne George-Wiltshire and a mixed jury.Alli is on trial for the murder of Premchand Sugrim called “Copper” and “Pluck” of No. 54 Village,Wholesale Nike NFL Jerseys, Corentyne on July 20, last year.The state’s case as presented by attorney- at- law Priteema Kissoon-Ally is that on July 10, 2011 following a dispute between the two men,Wholesale Jerseys China, Alli who was 15 at the time used an iron pipe to lash Sugrim who was his relative,China Jerseys Cheap, in the head.Sugrim collapsed and was picked up and rushed to the Skeldon hospital, before being transferred to the New Amsterdam hospital. He was then transferred to the Georgetown Hospital where he died 10 days later.The state is expected to call 12 witnesses.During the opening day the state called six of those witnesses. The first to take the stand was Krishna Sugrim, the dead man’s son.He testified to accompanying his father to the hospital and witnessing the Post Mortem examination which was conducted by Dr Nehaul Singh.Bibi Baksh testified to going on the dam at Number 54 Village on the day in question where the incident occurred and seeing Sugrim lying on the ground. He was bleeding from a wound to his head. She said that she placed his head on her lap.She said that a piece of pipe about four feet in length was on the ground not too far away and a cutlass was also somewhere around.Taxi driver, Lilla Singh,NFL Jerseys From China, testified to being contacted on the day in question to transport the injured to the Skeldon Hospital.Detective Corporal Hazrat Mohammed was next on the witness stand. He testified to the role he played in the investigation. After receiving certain information on July 10, he visited the scene and saw the deceased lying on the ground.He stated that later that day he was at the No. 51 police station when the accused was brought to the station by his mother. The accused later gave a confession statement,China NFL Jerseys, in which he admitted to hitting the deceased on his head with a pipe following a dispute.The statement was given in the presence of his mother and another policeman. The caution statement was subsequently admitted into evidence and was read to the court.Mohamed is expected to return to court today when he is expected to tender the alleged murder weapon, the iron pipe to the court.Police detective constable Eustace Lynch testified to witnessing the post mortem which gave the cause of death as trauma and a fracture to the right side, and trauma to the left.Naline Ragnauth in her evidence said that she shared a house with the accused at the time of the incident. Under cross-examination she spoke of a dispute between the two men and warning them to desist from their behaviour.? She went to inform other relatives about the dispute and did not see when the fatal blow was struck.Alli is being represented by Attorney at Law Kumar Doorasammy.The matter continues today.