SVG Lawyers owing EC$9.5 million in taxes

A whopping EC$9.5 million in taxes is owed by some Lawyers practicing here.{{more}}

The numbers were revealed by Attorney General Judith Jones-Morgan on Monday at a special sitting of the High Court.

Morgan noted that nearly 50 per cent of all the taxes collected from Lawyers was collected from Lawyers working in the public service. Moreover, Jones Morgan underscored the fact that a junior clerk or senior clerk in the public sector, on an average, pays more taxes than some Lawyers in the state of St Vincent and the Grenadines.

In 2005, with approximately 74 Lawyers on roll, the total tax collected amounted to $260,090 with the average Lawyer paying $3,530. With a roll of 89 Lawyers, over $220,585 was collected in 2006, with an average of $2,478 being paid per Lawyer. The following year saw the figure balloon to $345,481 with 93 Lawyers on the roll, each paying $3714 on average.

In responding to the report read by Jones-Morgan, former Bar Association president Nicole Sylvester fired back, stating that the numbers did not reflect every Lawyer in the profession and certainly not her. “I for one resent that Lawyers pay an average of $3,000. I pay more than 10 times that amount in taxes,” she vehemently defended.

Sylvester added that she is not one who falls in that category and that she resents any statements made about her not paying her fair share of taxes. The attorney went on to say that there is a mechanism set up at the Inland Revenue Department to deal with Lawyers or any member of the public who doesn’t pay their taxes. “Allow the mechanism to operate and deal with it there,” she noted.

Sylvester noted that giving average taxes paid by Lawyers allows people to speculate and come to the wrong conclusions. “I will not suffer from inertia and not respond to such comments.” (KW)