Commissioner-General of the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) Khurshid Sattaur says that a Toyota Prado imported by him was a used one thus the taxes paid was less than if it was a new one.
Sattaur, in a letter responding to an article in the Kaieteur News headlined ‘GRA boss imports Prado for $1.5M’ which reported that there seems to be varying tax charges for the same type of vehicle and these charges appear to be levied according to who the person is, said that his vehicle was purchased at an auction and repaired.
The KN article had reported that the Legal Affairs Ministry as well as parliamentarian Kwame Gilbert had imported similar vehicles and the values of these were declared at $7.2 million and $7.4 million respectively but Sattaur’s vehicle had a declared value of just under $1.5 million. While the ministry and Gilbert enjoyed full tax exemption, Sattaur is not entitled to full tax exemption and his vehicle attracted a 30 per cent import tax and given the declared value of it, this would amount to $450,000, the newspaper reported. It noted that had the Legal Affairs Ministry and Gilbert been asked to pay the 30 per
