Senior Reporter
kevon.felmine@guardian.co.tt
In response to calls from Opposition and Independent Senators for the T&T Revenue Authority (TTRA) to be maintained, Labour Minister Leroy Baptiste is sticking to his position that the agency will not improve revenue collection.
In his first contribution in the Senate during the debate on the T&T Revenue Authority (Repeal) Bill, 2025, Baptiste cited several expert reports which found no reliable evidence that semi-autonomous revenue agencies inherently perform better. He said former Finance Minister Vishnu Dhanpaul had referenced various reports highlighting dysfunctions within the Board of Inland Revenue (BIR) and Customs and Excise Division (CED), including under-resourcing, understaffing, and poor treatment of workers, issues he attributed to the actions of the previous government.
Baptiste said the Opposition’s claim of a $10 billion tax gap was based on the false equivalence that the TTRA equalled greater revenue. Referring to a 2007 report by Maureen Kidd and William Crandall on T&T’s tax system, he said there was no conclusive evidence that revenue authorities consistently outperformed traditional government departments.
He added: “But Kidd and Crandall went further. They said there is no objective analysis showing that countries with revenue authorities outperform countries without them. That is what the expert said, so this money, there is absolutely no correlation between a revenue authority and the collective of more revenue.”
Baptiste also referenced a 2017 report that warned of increased administrative costs, mission drift, and weakened oversight within revenue authorities, with no measurable gains in revenue or fiscal capacity. A 2023 global review echoed similar findings.
He argued that integrity, sustained investment, and internal modernisation were more important to effective tax collection than structural autonomy.
Baptiste compared the proposed TTRA to the model of the Regional Health Authorities (RHAs), which since 1994 had prioritised contract labour and union busting over public service, eroding public trust. He warned against converting state departments into statutory bodies like the Housing Development Corporation (HDC) and Tourism Development Company without resolving fundamental human resource and technological gaps.
The minister accused the previous administration of deliberately crippling the BIR and CED by withholding resources while blaming the staff for systemic inefficiencies.
“Public servants were described as inefficient, corrupt and outdated. What signal does this send? That those who uphold our fiscal laws are unworthy of investment and that professionalism can be undermined for political expediency? Rather than empower them with better tools, they blamed them for systemic rot,” he said.
Baptiste reminded the Senate that while many preach acceptance of change, true political change occurred on April 28 with the general election. He criticised the Opposition for revisiting failed policies, pointing to Dhanpaul’s admission that TTRA discussions were alive in 2010, shortly before that administration lost power.
“You know what happened with this same TTRA and election? That administration lost the election in 2010. Why? Because the people rejected that policy as it relates to treating the issues mentioned with BIR and Customs & Excise. It is clear, but according to the old people, ‘like stick break in their ear.’”
In his contribution to the debate, Dhanpaul said if Finance Minister Davendranath Tancoo manages to close the tax gap by the end of fiscal 2027 without the TTRA, he will return to the Senate to issue a formal apology.
He said the Government could hire 2,000 tax officers if it succeeds but wondered if it would act if tax evasion evidence reached the senior levels of the BIR.
“When that list reaches the hierarchy of the BIR, I will leave it at that,” he said.
Dhanpaul said the TTRA was never anti-worker and employees had options - join the TTRA, transfer elsewhere in the public service, or accept a voluntary separation package.
He said the TTRA was designed to be apolitical and its success should not be linked to party agendas.
Dhanpaul who had served in the Finance Ministry since 2002, recalled several feasibility studies, including one led by former Integrity Commission Chairman Gordon Deane, that identified 13 structural deficiencies in revenue collection, including outdated institutional frameworks, poor human resource management, obsolete technology, and low taxpayer compliance.
He said the 2007 Kidd and Crandall report, commissioned with IMF technical assistance, warned that without administrative reforms revenue potential would remain suppressed.
He said by 2009, when T&T recorded its first fiscal deficit in years, the urgency to act intensified. In 2017, under the PNM, the IMF again assisted the Ministry of Finance during a prolonged period of fiscal deficits.
Kidd and Crandall’s assessment concluded that although the legal and ICT frameworks were sound, issues such as weak taxpayer registration, minimal digital services, and VAT shortfalls equivalent to five per cent of GDP caused the country to lose between $10 and $20 billion in revenue.
Dhanpaul said at the time of his departure from the Finance Ministry in 2020, several court cases challenging the TTRA were before the Privy Council. In 2024, the court ruled that the TTRA’s establishment was constitutional and did not violate public service oversight, fund collection protocols, or taxation mandates.