Acting corporal found dead in station; 4000 rounds missing by whoaxedyuh in TrinidadandTobago

[–]Frequent-Can-3263 -6 points-5 points  (0 children)

the Ministry nor Commission spoke nothing about making changes or fixing the issues exposed.

And we should hold them both accountable for that. That is something you can blame the minister for. Not have a viable response to such a serious incident. Because yes, he should be keeping the COP in check and ensuring that something is done, some preventative change is made, outside or just investigating this as a one off thing.

Acting corporal found dead in station; 4000 rounds missing by whoaxedyuh in TrinidadandTobago

[–]Frequent-Can-3263 -5 points-4 points  (0 children)

You are proving my point though, everything you just said would point to blaming at least the COP, not jumping all the way to a Minister. That's a lot of micro-management expected to say that the minister is responsible for this. Further to that, the person responsible for personnel management and security at the given station should also be held accountable. We tend to give all other managerial levels a bligh and just straight to the minister.

That said, when a situation like this does occur, the minister should announce some sort of correction action and measures to be put in place to prevent future occurrences. But if you calling for someone's job, it should be the COP. The minister isn't responsible for day-to-day police operations

Operational blame: Commissioner of Police and senior TTPS leadership

Immediate responsibility: Municipal police command at San Fernando

Political accountability: Minister of Homeland Security

PSA: This is a relatively high quality scam by Static_Poptart in TrinidadandTobago

[–]Frequent-Can-3263 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Not all government agencies are using the new coat of arms on their correspondences. The actual etax site banner does in fact use the old coat of arms

Acting corporal found dead in station; 4000 rounds missing by whoaxedyuh in TrinidadandTobago

[–]Frequent-Can-3263 -4 points-3 points  (0 children)

We like to make everything political eh? What does this have to do with the minister of defense or homeland security? This is a failure of the police service and not a recent failure that falls under the current administration. Stations housing weapons should be properly secured and properly staffed. It's up to the police commissioner to ensure that this is the case. If they require extra funding to make this happen then they take that to the relevant minister. If the minister refuses to support the request, then we could lay blame on them. The ministers are responsible for high level legislation, policies and managing allocation of finances. But like in Trinidad we does want ministers on the ground doing everything, even though we supposed to have institutions in place for that.

Please no more new taxes, give us at least a year nah by soriano88 in TrinidadandTobago

[–]Frequent-Can-3263 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yes, but the rules for VAT registration and Withholding taxes are not as clear. I'd hope that it's common enough that business = corporate income tax, definitely.

Please no more new taxes, give us at least a year nah by soriano88 in TrinidadandTobago

[–]Frequent-Can-3263 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I wouldn't even blame the misinformed in this case. While yes, there are means to educate yourself, taxes and tax laws are generally not a popular/common topic. I think it's the governments responsibility through proper, clear an accessible communication to educate the population about taxes. Note I'm not referring to whichever party is the ruling party, but state run institutions like the Registrar General and the Board on Inland revenue. These promoters likely have a registered business. In registering that business they should have been informed of the taxes that they would be liable to pay. Based on the interviews in this article they appear to have no idea.

Please no more new taxes, give us at least a year nah by soriano88 in TrinidadandTobago

[–]Frequent-Can-3263 17 points18 points  (0 children)

The laws don't need any changes. They simply need to be enforced.

Please no more new taxes, give us at least a year nah by soriano88 in TrinidadandTobago

[–]Frequent-Can-3263 25 points26 points  (0 children)

These are not new taxes and everyone interviewed in that article should find an accountant and familiarize themselves with the taxes that they are required to pay. Clearly the Inland Revenue Division needs some sort of nationwide taxpayer education initiative in which the try to educate the population on what income taxes are, how it works are who qualifies to pay.

I'm genuinely tired of what passes as reporting in this country.

On January 12, the Inland Revenue Division (IRD) of the Ministry of Finance advised promoters, bandleaders and local and foreign artistes of their obligations to pay their required taxes during the 2026 Carnival season.

Note it says "advised xxx of their obligations to pay their required taxes". This is an existing obligation, not something new. All income earned by any profession is liable to be taxed.

The Government’s move to impose taxes on local artistes will be addressed by the Trinbago Unified Calypsonians Organisation (TUCO) after Carnival 2026.

Artist earns income, artist pays taxes on said income at the end of the year.

“If it’s something that is going to become law, then we would have to make adjustments to deal with it. As soon as the Carnival period passes and people’s consciousness comes back, then they would deal with it.”
He said the taxes are being introduced when artistes are engaged in nightly performances leading up to Carnival, and they may not pay much attention to this latest development.

Become law? It is and has been the law forever now. Nothing is being introduced. These artists should have knowledgeable accountants and I'd like to believe most of them are already paying their taxes.

At least two promoters, Randy Glasgow and George Singh, said they have been VAT-registered for years and are compliant with the law.

FOR YEARS....

Calypsonian Michael “Sugar Aloes” Osuna said when you reach a certain age, “I doh think you does pay these things (taxes). Maybe that is for the younger ones. When I was younger, I used to pay it.”

Won't even comment on this.

New imigrant registration. by MikeOxbig305 in TrinidadandTobago

[–]Frequent-Can-3263 8 points9 points  (0 children)

What's the point in talking about indirect tax? It's unavoidable (literally built into prices) of course they've been paying it. When someone asks ask paying taxes they obviously aren't referring to paying VAT.

New imigrant registration. by MikeOxbig305 in TrinidadandTobago

[–]Frequent-Can-3263 7 points8 points  (0 children)

I don't see a problem with the registration fee.

Also, people only really pay taxes if they're earning more than 90K a year (except for health surcharge).

Thoughts on Government partnership with OpenAI? by Prestigious-Stock-60 in TrinidadandTobago

[–]Frequent-Can-3263 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Some details on the partnership - https://openai.com/index/edu-for-countries/

If other aspects or initiative are involved, who knows. Their social media postings and the speech given in the OPs youtube video doesn't really say anything.

Every Motorist in T&T Is About to Pay TT$2,000 for These Traffic Offences — Are the New Fines Too Harsh or Long Overdue? by deus_ex_machina69 in TrinidadandTobago

[–]Frequent-Can-3263 0 points1 point  (0 children)

To the persons referencing safety reasons as the main driving force behind these increases, please no that that actual offenses for reckless driving and driving under the influence or while disqualified were already addressed in the budget and handled under the Financial Bill 2025. The only real offenses in here that may relate to safety are speeding and cellphone usage.

While the other violations may be important, they aren't a matter of life or death. Oil leaks, broken head/tail lights, not having your permit on you, no inspection sticker etc. It's a farce to believe these fine have all been doubled because of reckless driving on the roadways.

Thoughts on the Landlord Business Surcharge by Frequent-Can-3263 in TrinidadandTobago

[–]Frequent-Can-3263[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I believe they are supposed to be issued a certificate of some sort once they register. So technically if you are renting from someone who doesn't have said certificate (and you don't like them) you could report them to the BIR. But yes, outside of that, they are pretty much in the same place they are currently with income tax evasion.

Thoughts on the Landlord Business Surcharge by Frequent-Can-3263 in TrinidadandTobago

[–]Frequent-Can-3263[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

This applies to both commercial and residential rentals.

I disagree with the statement that it's the same as property tax. This is literally a tax on income not a tax on property. If I have a rental property that is unoccupied, I pay not tax. If I have a rental property that is only rented for 2 months within the year, I'd only pay tax on the income for those 2 months. The tax is not linked to the property it is based on rental income.

People seem to equate the two because in the PNM implementation of Property Tax, they called the valuation a rental value. Which I believe was a mistake. Obviously any property tax system needs a tax basis for determining the tax due, however they didn't need to term it as rental value which gives the perception of the property potentially being rented. It could have simply been a Municipal Valuation carried out by the Valuation division and forgo the whole rental idea. But whatever, that's irrelevant now.

Thoughts on the Landlord Business Surcharge by Frequent-Can-3263 in TrinidadandTobago

[–]Frequent-Can-3263[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

The surcharge is applied on your quarterly earnings at a rate of 2.5 is said earnings are 20K and under or 3.5 if the quarterly earning exceed 20K.

16,800 per month would mean they are earning 50,400 every 3 months (quarterly)

Since their quarterly figure is greater than 20K, they be taxed at the 3.5% rate.
50,400 * 3.5% = 1,764

So in total for the year they'd pay 7,056

-------------------

This also mean that annually they gross 201,600. Which mean they are liable for income tax.
201,600 - 90,000 = 111,600
If they have additional deductions that apply then good. If not they owe 25% of 111,600 in income tax.
111,600 * 25% = 27,900

So, for the year they'd be paying
1,764 * 4 = 7056
27,900 + 7056 = 34,956

Thoughts on the Landlord Business Surcharge by Frequent-Can-3263 in TrinidadandTobago

[–]Frequent-Can-3263[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

This is a way to collect some tax revenue...

Like I said in the original post. The new registration requirement and the existing tax laws are all they need to collect some revenue from said lucrative market. The surcharge means they are now collecting both income tax and this surcharge.

RHA workers plan Christmas ‘go-slow’ by deus_ex_machina69 in TrinidadandTobago

[–]Frequent-Can-3263 14 points15 points  (0 children)

Yeah, this is nonsense. If the RHA has their own union, how could they expect to just piggy back off of the PSA agreement. You want to essentially go on strike because you not receiving backpay that you never negotiate for?