Dear Editor,

I was more than shocked to read in the Sunday Observer that Tax Admin Jamaica (TAJ) went to Digicel accompanied by police with high-powered weapons to serve a warrant and a summons on the telecommunications giant.

A summons for information, or a summons to compel a taxpayer to appear before tax authorities is a useful tool that tax authorities all around the world use to get compliance from taxpayers. In fact, many IRS agents are armed, but these arms are carried as concealed weapons and if the situation warrants it, additional firepower can easily be summoned.

We saw that when the IRS went for Al Capone. We have not seen our tax authorities treat our “Al Capones”, whether in Kingston, Mandeville or Montego Bay in this manner.

It boggles my mind as to what threat the tax professionals felt they would come under why they had to be accompanied by policemen carrying high-powered weapons. I don’t know of Digicel having a history of attacking state authorities or tax professionals with deadly force.

My surprise did not end there. I woke to read the public relations officer of TAJ seeking to defend the indefensible with vapid suggestions that their professionals had cause. This sort of “if you know what we know” comment tries to dismiss those of us who are suspicious and ask too many questions.

Well, I believe we need more than that. Tax admin does not have the credibility at any level to offer us that pill and we just swallow it.

Here we have the minister of national security telling us through one side of his mouth that he wants less than deadly force used to bring hardened criminals to justice, and then this same government turns up at a corporate office with highpowered weapons on a Friday evening, barricading the office of a respected corporate citizen.

Suppose it was little you or me? Don’t let the timing be lost on you, either. Friday evening was chosen specifically to frustrate the company’s legal response. If it were you or me it is very likely that at best we would be spending a weekend in jail, or we would be boxed by the police, or at the very worst someone would be injured and the police would then fabricate statements.

I am overreacting, you say? Wake up, this is not about Digicel. Lucky for them they could find a judge on a Friday evening. If you think you could, then read no further and dismiss me as just a mad Jamaican who supports the rule of law, not when it is convenient, but at all times.

When the state starts to take short cuts it’s the taxpayers’ and citizens’ rights that will be the first casualties. This is not Zimbabwe. We did not elect Robert Mugabe.

Digicel being issued a tax summons and not complying would have been just as damaging to their corporate image if that was made public, so what was the reason to go to their offices with guns and lock their front doors?

I would ask for an explanation from the government, but I believe I will get the same type of reply that we received when many asked the PM to comment on the desecration of the Jamaican flag — a “fool-fool” response, while we are told how influential our PM is. So I won’t waste any time doing that.

The minister of finance is busy racking up frequent-flyer miles selling more debt and mortgaging our future instead of presenting a budget that would give the wouldbe purchasers of that debt the confidence that would result in the people of Jamaica getting those funds at a cheaper rate.

An agreement with the IMF prior to that road trip would spell a much smarter business approach. Whoever heard of anyone going to borrow money without a business plan? It makes no sense whatsoever. Just as marching into Digicel, one of your largest taxpayers, with big guns makes no sense either.

It’s not big guns we need but better trained auditors, better trained tax professionals, better equipped tax professionals. If this is the leadership of the financial secretary then I have some real concerns. It would have been better had the local authorities been accompanied by representatives of an audit firm with a strong background in telecommunications and forensic auditing than with educated policemen with a big rifles.

This is not what we expect from Dr Peter Phillips. We expect better, we expect smarter, savvy moves. We expect more companies like Digicel to come and invest. Is this how we will treat them?

Who is next: China Harbour, GraceKennedy, maybe a Lannaman and Morris, maybe a Stewart Motors, or maybe you?

Eliot Penn

Kingston 5