Ramdeen: I’ll strike down tax bill

OPPOSITION Senator Gerald Ramdeen yesterday vowed to ask the High Court to strike down as unconstitutional the Income Tax (Amendment) Bill 2018.

He spoke as a watered-down version of the bill made its way from the House of Representatives (where the Opposition voted against it last Friday) to the Senate floor.

“All I am waiting for is for this legislation to be proclaimed and assented, and I am heading to the High Court,” Ramdeen vowed. “If this legislation is passed in its current form, it is about two hearings and it is struck down.”

He told the Government it must not abuse its power to railroad legislation through people’s constitutional rights.

Ramdeen said TT should not wait on FATCA nor the Global Forum to fight white-collar crime,which he said is evident on the ground in TT. “If you drive around this country and see the malls and the supermarkets that are being opened up everywhere, you really think you need the police and the Global Forum to tell you who is money laundering?

"It’s not a secret. It’s just like the drug trade. Everybody except the police and the FIU (Financial Intelligence Unit) knows who is money-laundering, who is in drugs, but nobody could be prosecuted for it."

Ramdeen lamented that many people see no problem with that state of affairs.

"‘Let us pass more legislation.’Let us pass more legislation, and let people open more mall, more supermarkets and wash more money through TT. Then we complain about $22 billion in suspicious transactions.”

Ramdeen asked when will a special unit in the TT Police Service be set up to fight white-collar crime.

“Nobody has thought of that. All we need to do is pass legislation, and abracadabra, we’ll be able to pass the Global Forum and satisfy FATCA and everything’s hunky-dory after that,” he scoffed.

He likened this white-collar crime legislation to the Anti-Gang Bill, which he said has failed.

Ramdeen said the bill needs a special majority, as the use of a judge to monitor its execution does not meet the requirements of the rule of proportionality, the idea that a measure must not be excessive to the ends sought.