SBC4- SELF-ETHICAL TAX RAISING IN SMALL STATES
COMMONWEALTH PARLIAMENTARY CONFERENCE Johannesburg, South Africa
59th
33rd Small Branches Conference: 4th Plenary- 31 August 2013
ENSURING TECHNICAL AND LEGISLATIVE CAPACITY FOR ETHICAL TAXRAISING IN SMALL STATES
Moderator: Hon. William McKeeva Bush, JP, MLA (Cayman Islands)
Discussion Leaders: Hon. Alex Downie, MLC, (Isle of Man); Connétable John Refault, (Jersey); Mr Axel Schimmelpfenning, Senior Resident Representative in South Africa, International Monetary Fund (IMF)
Summary
Delegates observed that States should have a strong political commitment to develop effective legislation on improving efficiency, transparency in tax administration and tax policies.
It was considered that simplicity in tax administration would ensure that the system was understood and accepted to maximize compliance. These efforts would also contribute to the overall revenue tax base.
A view from the Cayman Islands Hon. William McKeeva Bush, JP, MLA, separated the session title in two: “ensuring technical and legislative capacity in small states” on one side; and “ethical tax-raising” on the other.
324 | The Parliamentarian | 2013: Issue Four
He stated that the restriction of technical and legislative capacity could be addressed in two possible manners by small states, namely:
• Either rely on larger states to provide guidance and examples, with the risk of proposed solutions being more appropriate for bigger than smaller states due to complicated bureaucracy that simply cannot be implemented; or • Work closer with the private sector, using their own resources, or a combination of both, but the government finding mechanisms to ensure that assistance is not biased towards a particular entity or sector but instead maintains the wider inter- est at heart.
With regard to theory versus reality in relation to ethical taxes, availability of legislative, technical resources and the cost of collecting those taxes has to be taken into consideration. There is a risk of relying on standard G20 models which are too expensive for some Small States resulting in more government spending, more distribution and less growth. In the experience of the Cayman Islands, Mr McKeeva Bush reported how the economy has driven the tax system, in turn creating an extremely easy system of enforcing individual taxes. It is critical to build into the tax model the collection efficiency of the different alternatives. On ethical tax raising, this has to take into account several factors, primarily:
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124