GEORGETOWN, Guyana, CMC – The Private Sector Commission (PSC) is urging the Guyana government to reduce corporate income tax to zero on businesses earning less than GUY$60 million (One Guyana dollar=US$0.004 cents) annually and increase the personal income tax threshold to GUY$160,000.
Finance Minister Dr. Ashni Singh announced that budget day will be on January 2, and PSC President Gerry Gouveia Jr said the business community’s overall requests are aimed at benefiting workers and employers.
“The overview of the matter is that we want to maximise the net take home for local businesses as well as employees,” he told the online publication, Demerara Waves Online News.
While he would not disclose the proposal of the private sector group, the PSC president would only say that the private sector has proposed “significant increases” in the current minimum salary of GUY$102,346 and the income tax threshold of GUY$130,000.
The media outlet said it has been reliably informed that the PSC has also recommended that commissions and bonuses be made tax-free, and that there should be a 30 per cent basic pay allowance across the board.
Faced with a labour shortage of just over 50,000 persons, the PSC proposes reducing the migrant worker withholding tax from 20 percent to 10 percent for individual foreign specialists.
Among the recommendations tabled at the consultation held on January 17 are the reduction of corporation tax, special corporation taxes for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) aimed at promoting their growth, increases in the minimum wage and non-taxable threshold, more financing incentives, and the provision of jobs in rural and hinterland areas.
The PSC and its affiliates want the 2026 national budget to provide for a zero corporate income tax rate for SMEs with annual earnings below GUY$60 million for 0 to 3 years.
The PSC also recommends that the government repeal the two-cent minimum corporate tax on gross turnover, a move it says can stimulate 0.5 per cent to one per cent growth in trade-related sectors.
Also being proposed are reducing the corporate tax rate on commercial entities from 40 per cent to 25 per cent over two years, the non-commercial rate to 20 per cent, and the telecommunications rate to 30 per cent.
The Irfaan Ali government is also being requested to provide support for care institutions, gender equality, employment, and charitable donations. In this area, the PSC is calling for the Deed of Covenant system to be replaced with a 35 percent tax credit for donations and sports sponsorship at the national level.
The business community is also asking for an overall VAT reduction, as well as a decrease in that tax on certain goods. In the housing sector, the private sector hoped that two million Guyana dollars could reduce the cost of building a three-bedroom house if the five percent duties on cement and ‘finishings’ were zero-rated.
The PSC was among several business support organisations that participated in pre-budget consultations with the Finance Minister. The Finance Ministry did not provide any details of that meeting in a comprehensive, generalised press release.
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