GOV’T: PAY UP

As long as your road tax was due before July 1, it is owed to the Barbados Revenue Authority (BRA).

This was the statement made by Transport Minister, Dr. William Duguid, during a press briefing at Government Headquarters yesterday as he sought to clarify the comments he made during a tour on June 21, which left many believing that they did not have to make those payments outstanding to BRA.

At that time, he was quoted as saying, “If your road tax is due June 28 and you do not pay your road tax, I will suggest you put down your car for the two days.”
However, Duguid insisted that his statement was made to ensure persons did not break the law, telling reporters, “I made it very clear that if you did not pay your road tax, you will be running afoul of the law.”

Sympathising with those persons who had road taxes due mere days short of July 1, he said that BRA was setting up a system where payments could be made in instalments.

“The Barbados Revenue Authority has a system in place where you can pay all taxes in instalments and we are extending that instalment payment to the due road tax as well. So going forward, if you have road taxes that are due, what you can do when you present to the Licensing Authority, you can make arrangements to pay your due road tax in instalments and we will be making a briefing available to the press outlining how you can make those payments. You will have to make a deposit, but will have to make those further payments in instalments through the BRA,” he outlined.

Saying that there were some 20 000 persons that have not been paying their road tax, he said that the Government was maintaining its position that getting rid of this and instead introducing a fuel tax was the best way for Government to get those funds to maintain this nation’s roads. (JMB)