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  • 1 year ago
The Senate passed the 2024 Global Forum bill on Tuesday evening, as the Finance Minister sought to assure the public that Section 4 of the income Tax Act expressly prohibits him from getting access to personal and private tax information.

However, during the Committee stage of the bill, the Senate President instructed the Marshal of the Parliament to remove an Opposition Senator from the Parliament Chamber.

Juhel Browne reports.
Transcript
00:00Former Education Minister Dr. Tim Gopi Singh was appointed as an Opposition Senator in
00:05place of one who was absent from the Senate during its debate and the committee stage
00:10of the Miscellaneous Provisions Global Forum Bill 2024.
00:16What would have initiated the thought of the Minister of Finance to put himself as the
00:23competent authority rather than leaving the competent authority as the Board of Inland
00:29Revenue? We can't see an explanation except now we have to say that he wants to usurp
00:36the powers of the Board of Inland Revenue and this is extremely dangerous for any citizen
00:42of Trinidad and Tobago when you have a politician being able to go into the taxes of citizens
00:48of Trinidad and Tobago.
00:50Finance Minister Colm Imbert's initial response was met with strong objections from the Opposition
00:56benches. Senate President Nigel De Freitas eventually issued an instruction to the Marshal
01:02of the Parliament.
01:03Senator Gopi Singh, Senator Gopi Singh, Senator Gopi Singh, I have not acknowledged you to
01:10speak. Silence. Senator Gopi Singh, okay. Senator Gopi Singh, you left before, leave
01:16again. Senator Gopi Singh, please exit this chamber now. Senator Gopi Singh, I have asked
01:24you to leave. Marshal, please remove the Senator.
01:31Soon after, the Finance Minister continued.
01:34The government did not remove the Board of Inland Revenue from the Tax Information Exchange
01:43Agreements United States of America Act 2017 and replace the Board of Inland Revenue with
01:50the Minister of Finance. That never happened.
01:54The 2024 Global Forum Bill states that the competent authority is the Minister of Finance
02:00or his authorized representatives.
02:03I have been at pains to point out that Section 4 of the Income Tax Act expressly prohibits
02:10me from getting access to personal and private tax information. And if I try, I'll go to
02:15jail. So that is just nonsense. So that I am doing what I've been asked to do by the
02:20Global Forum and the EU. If we don't do this, we run the risk of failing the peer review
02:26and continuing to be on the blacklist forever.
02:29Minister Inbert said he will appoint an authorized representative.
02:32I'm not going to pick up somebody off the street and say, right, you are the competent
02:36authority. It must be somebody who is an employee and an officer of the Board of Inland Revenue
02:43because only a person of that nature would have done the oath of secrecy and would be
02:50under penalty of law not to disclose tax information.
02:54The Global Forum Bill was passed via the votes of the government and independent senators.
03:01Jewel Brown, TV6 News.
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