00:00It's out with the TNT Revenue Authority and a continuation of the Board of Inland Revenue, but with some changes.
00:08The announcement comes from Prime Minister Kamala Passat-Bissasa.
00:11In keeping with government's stated policy, this government's policy,
00:16government will focus on resources, on strengthening the BIR,
00:21instead of spending to establish this failure of a TTRA.
00:26In this regard, the following measures will be explored.
00:31Strengthening the composition of the BIR by increasing the number of commissioners.
00:37We will also give consideration to including non-public officers as commissioners,
00:46as this will allow for greater expertise to be included in the BIR's governance structure.
00:51The Prime Minister says amendments will be made to the Income Tax Act,
00:55mandating the BIR to host board meetings on a monthly basis.
01:01Establish subcommittees for greater management.
01:04Establish timelines for the BIR to deliberate on important matters.
01:09Notify the Minister of Finance on important matters,
01:15excluding taxpayer information.
01:16And I'll come back to that in a moment.
01:20And to establish policy in the Inland Revenue Division and other matters.
01:25Establish a corporate secretariat in the BIR to allow for proper governance and record keeping.
01:31According to the Prime Minister, the Inland Revenue Division will see a full complement of staff,
01:37risk management and compliance improvements.
01:39Establish a special committee will be established.
01:43We violate and make proposals for an effective suite of measures
01:46to enable citizens, of course, to comply with the law.
01:52Passat-Bissessa states that only 32.6% of public officers bought into the TTRA,
01:59which she views as an abysmal failure.
02:01She expressed concerns over the TTRA legislation.
02:05They placed into the law a bill that was brought to the Parliament some very dangerous provisions.
02:12And we have already seen evidence how dangerous those provisions could have become.
02:17And what that was is they were weaponizing private data to attack those they didn't like
02:25or to attack and vilify those they felt were not in their own fold, in their own party.
02:32And we saw it with Derek Chin.
02:33She states that the UNC, when it was in opposition, just could not support it.
02:38Alicia Boucher, TV6 News.
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