Refund for some

Motorists whose road tax was due between June 12 and June 30 can write to Ministry for refund

PRIME Minister Mia Amor Mottley has cleared the air on the road tax payment that raised the ire of many Barbadians last month, who were told they had to make the full payment even though the tax was being abolished on July 1.

As such, individuals whose road tax was due between June 12 (the date of the budget) and June 30 (the day the tax came to an end) will be getting the majority of their money back, at a cost of approximately $2 million.

During a live interview with journalist David Ellis yesterday, Prime Minister Mottley acknowledged that the comments made by Minister of Transport and Maintenance, Dr. William Duguid, who suggested that motorists put down their vehicles before the tax was abolished on July 1, could have been misinterpreted.

“I have been very clear with the Barbadian public about being fair. Against that background, Cabinet on Thursday agreed that while he [Minister Duguid] may have meant ‘so that the police doesn’t catch you’, it was also equally capable of being understood that if you put it down you wouldn’t have to pay. And I have asked for the number. The numbers are under $2 million.

“We have said in fairness, let there be a refund for all who write the Ministry of Finance for the period of time between June 12, the date of the budget and June 30, when the tax came to an end.”

She said refunds are not unusual, noting that in instances where cars have been off the road because of an accident, people have written to ask for the proportionate part of the road tax not be payable.

“We are saying we can’t get into the details of who did and who didn’t. Write the letter, we could check and see when your time came up at Barbados Revenue Authority, and once that is verified then the government will give back 75 per cent of what you paid and the government will retain 25 per cent as and administrative fee.

“Similarly, with commercial vehicles, because they have the registration fee, instead of the refund, theirs would be applied to next year’s fee so that they won’t need to pay one next year.” The Prime Minister said this figure could be around $300 000.

During the wide-ranging interview, Mottley was asked if the confusion surrounding the road tax, the repeal of the National Social Responsibility Levy and the amendment of the Constitution to accommodate two government senators, were indications that her government was being too hasty as it sought to hit the ground running.

In response, Mottley said: “There are teething problems. The bottom line is, and I explained in the case of Minister Duguid's statement, that may be capable of misinterpretation, we also have to come to realise that there will always be a point in time when people will feel hard done by taxation. Those who paid their fees in April and May will feel hard done, but there has to be a line drawn in the sand.

“With respect to the NSRL, fundamentally that had to be done. With that the misunderstanding [was] with respect to the programming of the system as I understood it, indeed that [was] eventually dealt with. I think that so many people were going on at one point that it crashed the system for two –three days. And that was dealt with.

“There will be teething problems. A government is not an exam where you score 100 per cent. A government is about doing the right thing for people in the best way that you know possible.

“With respect to the constitutional amendments. I made it clear I would never have thought and I don’t think that any of us thought that people born in Barbados would be precluded from being able to serve in Barbados largely because of the fact that they have a second form of citizenship.

“I would not say we were being hasty, but I accept that whether we are being hasty or slow, there will always be teething problems in the initial stages because there is a learning curve to government,” she said. (JH)

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