The final findings and recommendations from the Tax Review Committee have been handed to the government today for deliberations.
Committee Chairman Sir Nagora Bogan in a formal ceremony handed volumes 1 and 2 of the TRC reports to the Treasurer Patrick Pruaitch.
The report is the culmination of an intensive, robust, open and transparent consultation with a wide cross-section of stakeholders, workshops and technical summit, empirical analysis, diagnostic reviews, and comparative benchmarking with international best practices.
The review was conducted over a period of 26 months from Sept 15, 2013 to Oct 24, 2015, but was delayed by eight months due to bureaucratic ineptitude and red tape.
Sir Nagora commended the Government for its foresight in initiating this exercise and thanked his team for the honour and privilege of leading and directing this prolific and profound comprehensive review of Papua New Guinea’s tax system.
The last comprehensive taxation review was done in 2000, 15 years ago, and this review presents an opportune time for the Government to take stock of the country’s fiscal position and how and why it can position itself to mitigate PNG’s socio-economîc development challenges that lie ahead.
“Of course, ensuring community well-being and managing the expectations of our people for basic service delivery, will be key when implementing the reform,’’ Sir Nagora said.
“To achieve blue print status, project management principles were systematically applied at every phase of the Review.’’
He said this will provide some realistic and practical institutional mechanism to mitigate the risk and vulnerability by diversifying the economic base to more sustainable sectors like agriculture, forestry, fisheries and tourism.