…GRA to redouble efforts in meeting 2015 revenue target – JordanWorks on the East Bank Demerara Public Road, one of the many government projects which has been suffering from delaysA delayed Budget in 2015 is being blamed for expenditure by Central government on capital projects declining by more than 50 per cent during the first half of the year.But with increased revenue collection there is likely to be an acceleration of spending in the latter half of the year.The official figures related to government’s spending and collections have been compiled and presented in the 2015 mid-year report, which has been made public ahead of it being tabled in the National Assembly this week.According to the report compiled by Finance Minister Winston Jordan, despite the significant slowdown of government spending earlier in the year, it remains committed to the implementation of the public sector investment programme, as presented in Budget 2015.The Minister has since reported that the second half of 2015 will experience a substantial growth in capital expenditure, as works on new and on-going projects will be accelerated.RevenueOn the matter of the revenues earned, the Minister in his mid-year report, documents that in the first half of 2015, Central Government’s current revenue, minus inflows from Guyana REDD +Investment Fund (GRIF) reached $78.3B, an increase of 6.1 per cent over the same period in 2014.Tax revenue collections also increased, according to Minister Jordan, and it reached $70.9B, compared to $66.8Bin 2014.Tax revenue collections represent 90 per cent of total revenue collected by government.It was noted that total tax remissions for January to June 2015 was $26.4B, some 37.2 per cent of tax collections.It was observed that when compared to the same period in the previous year, tax remissions were $28.2B resulting in an overall decrease of $1.8B.Internal revenue collection also increased by 4.6 per cent, according to the mid-year report, reaching $31.6B in the first half of 2015.This compares to $30.2B, in the same period in 2014.The Minister credited the performance to increased collections from personal income tax, via the Pay As You Earn (PAYE) category, which was largely as a result of salary increases granted in December 2014.It was said too that several major companies increased their payments in the first half of 2015 relative to the first half of 2014.Net property tax on private sector companies increased by $494.4M, largely due to arrears payments received in 2015 for the period 1983-2014.VAT collection declineIt was not all positive news as Corporation Tax from the Private Sector companies declined by $434M. This was said to be due to advance payments made in 2014.Withholding Tax also declined by $335.8M and this is being blamed on the contraction in the gold mining industry.Tax collections from self employed persons increased by $108.2M. This is attributed to an increase in the number and income of self employed persons.The ever controversial Value Added Tax (VAT), which has become one of the largest revenue earners for government, totaled $18.2B, a decline of $212.9M.It was noted that domestic supplies decreased by $114M, because of arrears payments received in 2014 while VAT on imports declined by $54.5M, due to significant decreases in the values of several categories of commodities imported in the manufacturing and trading sectors.Non-tax revenue collections increased moderately in the first half of 2015 by $472.8M,Cheap Jerseys China, or a 6.7 percent increase over the same period in 2014.It was noted that in spite of revenue losses from the environmental tax and several items from VAT as well as the removal of NIS deductions from chargeable income, the “GRA intends to redouble its efforts to ensure that the 2015 revenue target is achieved.”
