Imbert hopeful UNC will support revenue authority

FINANCE Minister Colm Imbert on Tuesday said he is hopeful that the Opposition UNC will accept the need for TT to have a revenue authority and support the legislation to establish it. During a virtual news conference hosted by his ministry, Imbert was asked if Government feared the Opposition would not support the TT Revenue Authority Bill 2019 when it comes back to the House of Representatives for debate.

He replied, "It's not a fear, it's a recognition of reality." The bill requires a three-fifths majority for passage. This equates to 25 votes in the House. The Government and Opposition have 23 and 18 MPs respectively in the House. But Imbert observed, "Time has a way of changing things."

He said Government was able to pass the bill in the Senate on May 1, with all nine Independent senators supporting it. While the Opposition's six senators voted against the bill, Imbert said he did not want to assume this meant the Opposition will vote against the bill again in the House.

He explained that one-third of the country's labour force is outside of the national insurance system and the tax system. Imbert said if some of these people were included in these systems, "there would be a greater revenue collection." He also said all of the studies received by Government over the last 30 years showed "a huge gap between potential revenue collection and actual revenue collection."

Imbert opined that if TT was able to collect all the revenue it could, the budget could have been balanced pre-covid19. He hoped the UNC would see sense in the need for the authority, and such an entity would be vital to TT regardless of whichever political party was in office.

Imbert also said it was too early to tell how global oil prices will affect efforts to reduce the budget deficit. WTI crude and Brent crude were trading at US$34.38 and US$36.32. In April, US crude oil prices plunged into negative territory owing to a slump in global demand for oil as countries impose some form of lockdown on their people in a bid to slow the spread of the covid19 pandemic and a glut in supply, despite an agreement by major oil producers to cut production.

"Thank God that prices have recovered," he said. While oil prices were trading at the US$30 per barrel mark right now, Imbert said it was difficult to predict what the prices would be in the short term and how this would affect the deficit. In April, Imbert said the budget deficit could reach $15.5 billion as a result of the covid19 pandemic. In March, Imbert said Government would revise its price estimates for oil from US$60 per barrel to US$40 per barrel and natural gas from US$3 to US$1.80 per mmbtu