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Antigua and Barbuda is in the global spotlight as Crown Counsel Nneka Nicholas is elected President of the Meeting of the Parties to the...

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Oct 22, 2024 News Kaieteur News-  In the Auditor General’s Report for 2023, exemptions from duties and taxes in Guyana reached a total of $273.931 billion, marking a significant increase of $110.698 billion or 68% over the $163.233 billion granted in 2022. This substantial rise in exemptions is largely attributed to an uptick in conditional tax concessions, which are provided to various sectors and projects. The report highlights that conditional tax exemptions granted in 2023 amounted to $273.169 billion, compared to $145.517 billion in 2022, reflecting an increase of $127.651 billion. Companies and businesses received the lion’s share of these concessions, with exemptions climbing from $126.240 billion in 2022 to $233.207 billion in 2023—an increase of $106.967 billion representing 86% of all conditional exemptions for the year. Other beneficiaries of conditional tax exemptions include: – Ministries/Government Departments: $20.544 billion (up by $9.744 billion) – Re-migrants: $4.785 billion (up by $2.415 billion) – Diplomats: $1.804 billion (up by $540 million) – Public Officials/Officers: $2.556 billion (up by $406 million) – Foreign Funded Projects: $5.640 billion (up by $4.646 billion) – Hospitals: $3.386 billion (up by $2.958 billion) Other categories saw decreases, such as churches and charitable organisations, which experienced a decline in exemptions by $449 million compared to the previous year. Also, unconditional tax exemptions fell sharply from $17.714 billion in 2022 to G$761 million in 2023, a decrease of $16.953 billion. Drivers behind the increase The surge in tax exemptions is mainly driven by a substantial rise in exemptions for companies and businesses, particularly through Investment Agreements. These agreements, facilitated by the Guyana Office for Investment (Go-Invest) and the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC), saw exemptions climb from $116.451 billion in 2022 to $200.337 billion in 2023, an increase of $83.885 billion. The most notable increases in tax exemptions within the business sector include: – Manufacturing: $14.583 billion (up by $11.542 billion) – Fuel: $10.551 billion (up by $8.779 billion) – Construction: $1.873 billion (up by $1.202 billion) – Mining: $919 million (up by $474 million) – Aircraft: $335 million (up by $246 million) Some sectors, however, saw reductions in exemptions, such as forestry and public transportation. While the AG report lists the taxes foregone as exemptions, it should be noted that the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) does not forego taxes.  It was previously explained that the Government of Guyana (GoG) sign agreements with companies and on the basis of those agreements, taxes are incentivized.  Notably, exemptions are usually done through legislation, and the CARICOM Common Market treaty, to name a few. Revenue Collection Moreover, it was stated in the AG’s report that according to GRA’s Statements of Receipts and Disbursements, the sum of $320.110 billion was estimated to be collected as revenue for the year 2023. However, while this figure was revised by the Authority to $350.346 billion, the actual collections paid into the Consolidated Fund totalled $366.615 billion. The report states that this represents a positive variance of $16.269 billion, equivalent to 5% above the revised estimated collections. Related Similar Articles

EPA and other agencies conduct further tests at Crane homes affected by suspected oil seepage Oct 22, 2024 News By Rehanna Ramsay and Davina Bagot Kaieteur News –  The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Monday visited the homes of West Demerara residents to collect more samples of the oily substance seeping through their floors. When Kaieteur News visited the home of Basmatie Singh, in Crane, the woman was sitting in her back yard, contemplating her next move as officers from the EPA, the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC), the Ministry of Health and Civil Defence Commission (CDC) conducted inspections in her home. Two men, without any type of protective gear were breaking the woman’s floor tiles in what used to be her living room to provide the EPA with samples of the substance that covered the bottom of the tile. A few minutes into the activity, the men complained of a burning sensation which quickly prompted them to reach for face masks. Outside of Singh’s home, officers of GGMC gathered samples of dirt surrounding the house for testing. This newspaper understands that the agencies will be conducting tests to determine whether the samples have volatile organic compounds present including sulphur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide. Head of the EPA’s oil and gas department, Joel Gravesande told Kaieteur News, “We just want to see how much is present so we can make our determination, because its more than if it’s present; it’s how much is present so we can make any determination. The data needs to be analysed as well as our visual observation then we can make our determination…We will have to look at the data as well as our visual inspection and then make a scientific determination.” Gravesande could not say when those test results would be ready. “At this point, I won’t be able to say as I don’t do the testing, myself. It has to go through the process,” he explained. This is the third on-site visit that the EPA and other agencies made to the home Ms. Singh shares with her son. A team from the EPA, GGMC and ExxonMobil Guyana Limited (EMGL) visited Singh’s home on October 8. The team had conducted tests and took samples of the substance for further testing offsite. The family was later informed by the EPA during a second visit to their home on October 11 that the living room area was high in Sulphur Dioxide. The Singhs’ have expressed concerns for their health since Sulphur Dioxide (SO2), according to the American Lung Association, is a gaseous air pollutant composed of sulfur and oxygen. “SO2 forms when sulfur-containing fuel such as coal, petroleum oil, or diesel is burned,” the Association said. Inhaling this gas can be extremely dangerous to human health causing wheezing, shortness of breath and chest tightness and other problems. According to the American Lung Association, “Long-term exposure at high levels increases respiratory symptoms and reduces the ability of the lungs to function.” Both Basmatie and her son reported experiencing a burning sensation of the eyes and nose from the fumes emanating from the substance seeping into their home. Basmatie particularly, has complained of experiencing symptoms such as nausea and headache. Giving an update on her health, Singh told Kaieteur News that a doctor was also among the visiting team from the Ministry of Health on Monday. “The doctor that come from the Ministry of Health talk to me today and said that they will do some tests to ensure that you know, everything is ok health wise. He said they will pay for the test to be done private,” Singh related. The Singhs’ home is located a short distance away from where American oil giant, ExxonMobil has laid a 12-inch pipeline. The pipeline is connected to the Liza One and Liza Two Floating Production Storage and Offloading vessels (FPSO) offshore. It will transport gas to the Wales Development site. In August, Exxon completed hooking up the pipeline to the two FPSOs. The company had said it would pump an earthen gas- like nitrogen- along with water into the structure, until the construction of the gas plants is completed at Wales. Another resident of Crane Housing Scheme whose home was affected by the strange seepage was also visited by the technical team. Nandanie Singh said the officers collected samples from her home. It is the second time the EPA visited her home which she shares with her extended family. “Last week, after the EPA visit I start seeing more substance coming up through the floor tiles…I started feeling sick, I had a headache, sore throat, runny nose and fever but I drank a Cetamol and I get a kind of relief,”  she said. The young woman said that this time when the EPA team returned, they were accompanied by other agencies. “They collected soil and so on for testing, they also told us to watch to see if anything coming up and if it does, not to wipe it up like I usually do, let them come and collect it for testing,” she said.   The young woman expressed eagerness at getting the results of the sample tests from the agencies. “We just want to ensure that this is not something that we should worry about because we want to move forward with our lives in peace,” She said Related Similar Articles

‘You are not my king,’ Indigenous Australian senator yells at visiting King Charles Oct 22, 2024 News Australia Senator Lidia Thorpe, left, disrupts proceedings as Britain’s King Charles and Queen Camilla attend a Parliamentary reception hosted by Australia Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and partner Jodie Jaydon at Parliament House in Canbetta, Australia, Monday, October 21, 2024 (Lukas Coch/ Pool Photo via AP). CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — An Indigenous senator told King Charles III that Australia is not his land as the British royal visited Australia’s parliament on Monday. Sen. Lidia Thorpe was escorted out of a parliamentary reception for the royal couple after shouting that British colonizers have taken Indigenous land and bones. “You committed genocide against our people,” she shouted. “Give us what you stole from us — our bones, our skulls, our babies, our people. You destroyed our land. Give us a treaty. We want a treaty.” No treaty was ever struck between British colonizers and Australia’s Indigenous peoples. AP correspondent Charles de Ledesma reports an indigenous senator is speaking out, after telling King Charles III that Australia is ‘not your land’. Charles spoke quietly with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese while security officials stopped Thorpe from approaching. “This is not your land. You are not my king,” Thorpe yelled as she was ushered from the hall. Thorpe is renowned for high-profile protest action. When she was affirmed as a senator in 2022, she wasn’t allowed to describe the then-monarch as “the colonizing Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.” She briefly blocked a police float in Sydney’s Gay and Lesbian Madri Gras last year by lying on the street in front of it. Last year, she was also banned for life from a Melbourne strip club after video emerged of her abusing male patrons. Albanese, who wants the country to become a republic with an Australian head of state, made an oblique reference to the issue in his speech welcoming the monarch. “You have shown great respect for Australians, even during times when we have debated the future of our own constitutional arrangements and the nature of our relationship with the Crown,” Albanese said. But, he said, “nothing stands still.” Opposition leader Peter Dutton, who wants to keep the British king as Australia’s monarch, said that many supporters of a republic were honored to attend a reception for the Charles and Queen Camilla at Parliament House in the capital Canberra. “People have had haircuts, people have shined shoes, suits have been pressed and that’s just the republicans,” Dutton quipped. But Australia’s six state government signaled their support for an Australian head of state by declining invitations to the reception. They each said they had more pressing engagements on Monday, but monarchists agreed the royals had been snubbed. Charles used the start of his speech to thank Canberra Indigenous elder Auntie Violet Sheridan for her traditional welcome to the king and queen. “Let me also say how deeply I appreciated this morning’s moving Welcome to Country ceremony, which offers me the opportunity to pay my respects to the traditional owners of the lands on which we meet, the Ngunnawal people, and all First Nations peoples who have loved and cared for this continent for 65,000 years,” Charles said. “Throughout my life, Australia’s First Nations peoples have done me the great honor of sharing so generously their stories and cultures. I can only say how much my own experience has been shaped and strengthened by such traditional wisdom,” Charles added. Australians decided in a referendum in 1999 to retain Queen Elizabeth II as head of state. That result is widely regarded to have been the consequence of disagreement about how a president would be chosen rather than majority support for a monarch. Albanese has ruled out holding another referendum on the subject during his current three-year term in government. But it is a possibility if his center-left Labor Party is re-elected at elections due by May next year. Charles was drawn into Australia’s republic debate months before his visit. The Australian Republic Movement, which wants Australia to sever its constitutional ties with Britain, wrote to Charles in December last year requesting a meeting in Australia and for the king to advocate their cause. Buckingham Palace politely wrote back in March to say the king’s meetings would be decided upon by the Australian government. A meeting with the ARM does not appear on the official itinerary. “Whether Australia becomes a republic is … a matter for the Australian public to decide,” the Buckingham Palace letter said. Earlier Monday, Charles and Camilla laid wreaths at the Australian War Memorial then shook hands with well-wishers on the second full day of their visit. The memorial estimated 4,000 people had turned out to see the couple. Charles, 75, is being treated for cancer, which has led to a scaled-down itinerary. It is Charles’ 17th trip to Australia and the first since he became king in 2022. It is the first visit to Australia by a reigning British monarch since his late mother Queen Elizabeth II traveled to the distant nation in 2011. Charles and Camilla rested the day after their arrival late Friday before making their first public appearance of the trip at a church service in Sydney on Sunday. They then flew to Canberra where they visited the Tomb of the Unknown Australian Soldier and a reception at Parliament House. Before leaving the war memorial, they stopped to greet hundreds of people who gathered under clear skies flying Australian flags. The temperature was forecast to reach a mild high of 24 degrees Celsius (75 degrees Fahrenheit). On Wednesday, Charles will travel to Samoa, where he will open the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting. Related Similar Articles