Complaints about GRA should be referred to the authority before being aired in the press

Dear Editor,

Please allow me to respond to a letter which appeared in the Friday November 22, 2013 edition of the Stabroek News captioned ‘Long wait for documents at the GRA.’

While the Guyana Revenue Authority has no difficulty with taxpayers publishing instances of glaring inefficiencies which serve to highlight areas that warrant intervention by the management of the entity, one is reminded of the proverb ‘one swallow does not make a summer.’ Taxpayers should seek redress when unsatisfactory situations occur before resorting to the press, as the taxpayer by the very words penned, admits that delays are not the norm.

There are avenues for complaints and these public exposures only serve to discredit the image of the entity which continuously seeks to improve its effectiveness and service to members of the public. Further, the presumably genuine motive of the letter writer is reduced to a public tarnishing and possible future exacerbation from the humiliation officers are subject to rather than bringing about positive changes.

There have been significant improvements in the service offered by the GRA as a result of the consolidation of its Georgetown operation, but that does not negate the fact that nothing is perfect or that everything is well until someone becomes dissatisfied for one reason or the other.

Members of the public who are dissatisfied at any point in time with the service provided by the GRA are advised to lodge their complaint of instances of mistreatment with the managers of these errant officers or call the hotline on 227-6060 extensions 1201-1204.

Yours faithfully,

Khurshid Sattaur

Commissioner-General