| –but Finance Minister exhorts miners to make honest declarationsBy Jarryl BryanSmall and medium scale miners were yesterday granted fuel tax concessions for which they have been clamoring to keep their businesses afloat.This came about through the signing of agreements in the Ministry of Finance’s board room, between the Guyana Energy Agency (GEA), the Finance Ministry and the Guyana Gold and Diamond Miners’ Association (GGDMA).Present were GGDMA President Terrence Adams, former GGDMA President Patrick Harding, Guyana Energy Agency (GEA) Head Mahender Sharma and Guyana Geology and Mines Commissioner Rickford Vieria.Junior Finance Minister Jaipaul Sharma and a representative from the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) were also there to witness.The concessions, according to Jordan, were aimed at small and medium scale miners and were granted for fuel and equipment.However, Jordan warned that as the Government was coming to the aid of miners, the miners in turn should do their part by ensuring accurate gold declarations are submitted and that royalty payments are made on time.“Many other people are depending on you. So this cannot be a game where greed and selfishness overtake the national good. We came to the rescue when you asked; this is a lot of revenue that will be given up but we appreciate the contribution that gold has made throughout the years,Cheap Baseball Jerseys Authentic,” Jordan said.“So we’re asking that in return, you do what is right, which is to declare what is there,Cheap Authentic NFL Jerseys, pay your royalties on time and look after your workers in terms of their NIS and their taxes,Authentic MLB Jerseys,” the Minister charged.Describing the move as a small and positive one, Jordan went back to the A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance for Change (APNU+AFC) general and regional election campaign of 2015. During the campaign season the party had promised that miners would receive fuel concessions.“This is a small and positive step because it represents giving effect to a promise made by government. We make our promises in a very deliberate manner and we don’t want to make promises that we can’t keep.“This was also a hundred-day promise and this is just a culmination of it. It is also a representation that the government will listen and where appropriate will seek to give assistance to sectors that are in difficulty in relation to domestic conditions.“What is given, much is expected from also. And while I heard (former GGDMA President ) Mr. Harding put out a very strong statement that it was not his people who were responsible for the smuggling of the gold, I think that it is a concern of all Guyanese that 15,000 ounces of gold could be smuggled from this country on a weekly basis,” the Minister admonished.Jordan was referring to the recent revelations of a multi-billion dollar gold smuggling racket involving local miners.He bemoaned the damage that gold smuggling had done to the economy, noting that not only was the growth of the economy misrepresented, but schools, health centers and developmental projects in the hinterland and in transportation could have been advanced with this lost revenue.“This is not something that anybody can countenance, much less this government and so we ask that in return those operators in the sector see to it that they do their corporate responsibility. (They need to) pay their relevant royalties (and) make their declarations,” he reiterated.Gold had been Guyana’s biggest foreign currency earner. It broke declaration records each year. That was until the world market prices fell two years ago.For this year, declarations have been down by at least 20 percent. As local commercial banks, which supplied start up financing for some miners to purchase their equipment, began to clamp down on operators; many miners were forced to leave the industry.Now,Marlon Humphrey Jersey, mining has fallen behind rice and sugar in terms of yearly earnings. The GGDMA had met with the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) administration and with the new administration with a view of securing concessions on the fuel tax,Cheap Jerseys China, road repairs, reduction of taxes on spare parts and concessions on pickups.At the recent GGDMA Annual General Meeting (AGM),Manchester City Store UK, the need for these concessions was again exemplified by outgoing GGDMA President Harding.Harding made a strident call for several incentives including reduction on payable royalties on gold sales, reduction in mining rentals and the same tax rate of 10 percent being enjoyed by large scale mining establishments on fuel to be extended to small and medium miners. |
