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Independent senator Gail Merhair joins the public services association in its fight against the retrenchment of over two thousand workers from the Inland Revenue and customs and excise divisions. The government has indicated plans to disband the two divisions and set up a revenue authority. Senator Merhair agrees with such a plan but she says privatization of tax collection via the creation of a private company is against the spirit of good governance. Senator Merhair says tax collection is a very sensitive aspect of state affairs and must be governed by the rules of the public service, she said the registration of a management company is a policy shift which is unacceptable. The more than two thousand workers to be retrenched at the Inland Revenue and customs and excise divisions are today receiving support from independent senator Gail Merhair. The senator is conce »

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$21 Billion in Oil Taxes from bpTT

The Government has received more than $21 billion in revenue from energy giant bpTT for the period January 2007 to March 2009. Energy Minister Conrad Enill has revealed the facts in a question for written response in the Senate yesterday. The answers were one week overdue. It was posed by Opposition Senator Wade Mark, who was absent from the Senate yesterday. Enill in giving a breakdown said $20.4 billion was paid as petroleum taxes and $1 billion was royalty payments. Enill said he was also not in a position to say what percentage of T&T’s total tax revenues for the 26-month period would have come from bpTT. He said those matters were dealt with by the Board of Inland Revenue. Enill also said last night that the State collected 55 per cent of the total revenue generated by bpTT in the period. According to the Guardian’s calculations, this would mean that bpTT would ha »

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Gayle Backtracks on Captaincy Comments

This series hasn't been Chris Gayle's finest hour. He turned up 48 hours before the first Test, spent a lot of time complaining about the cold and, to cap it all, said he wouldn't mind if Test cricket didn't exist. So, in many respects, he got what he deserved as the Wisden Trophy was surrendered back to England after little more than two months. Ever since his now infamous newspaper interview, Gayle has tried to tone down his comments without ever sounding convincing. His latest attempt came with a smile, but that was probably because he can now play one-day cricket for six weeks. "I'm definitely enjoying the captaincy," he said. "It has done a lot for me as an individual and I can't be ungrateful and say it hasn't. I appreciate it and am happy to lead the West Indies whenever and wherever. We have a good bunch of guys here and it's a learning process for»

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