By Sue-Ann Wayow

INDEPENDENT Senator Alicia Lalite-Ettienne asks the government to give the Trinidad and Tobago Revenue Authority (TTRA) a chance.

In a historic maiden presentation in the Upper House on Thursday, Lalite-Ettienne, the first visually impaired person to be appointed to the Upper House thanked President Christine Kangaloo for allowing her the opportunity to serve.

Almost at the end of contributing to the Trinidad and Tobago Revenue Authority (Repeal) Bill 2025, she said, “It is not to say that the TTRA is completely abolishing the Board of Inland Revenue and Excise Division. It is not to say that they are taking on all powers and leaving out the Service Commission so why not give it a chance?”

She said, “Instead of going to spend more money on a failed system over decades, spend it on the system and invest more into the TTRA to make it more effective.”

Desk thumping was received from those who sat opposite the government’s side.

Senate President Wade Mark warmly congratulated Lalite-Ettienne on her first contribution.

While she spoke, Lalite-Ettienne said, “The revenue system, it is an outdated system. We are a country, we like to claim that we are progressive that we are going forward not regressive.”

She said, “A country cannot run effectively on inefficient tax systems.”

Lalite-Ettienne said governments that came and went have all tried to fix problems with the revenue systems but yet still there was failure.

“Each citizen in Trinidad, we have rights and we have to be able to pay our taxes, and we must have an efficient system for proper recording and collecting of taxes because it is a ripple effect,” she said.

She said Trinidad and Tobago must maintain its reputation as a leading country, progressing forward in the Western hemisphere and keep abreast with global changes.

Lalite-Ettienne said the problem was not so much in the Act itself  but in the Service Commission.

“I have been hearing, I have been researching and I have been seeing so much of what is one of the main source of the problem in the TTRA. And they are talking about staffing and HR and training.”

The common denominator she said, pointed to the Service Commission.

She said, “There are many inefficiencies in the Service Commission, there are delays in staffing and with regards to training and compensation. So blaming the TTRA for all its inefficiencies, it’s incorrect.”

“Because if the Service Commission has their obligations and they are not fulfilling it in a timely manner and they are inefficient , you will have a ripple effect.”

Using two examples, one of which included the Common Entrance and the Secondary Entrance Assessment (SEA), she said the SEA system was not perfect but it did not mean that government should revert to the Common Entrance system.

The TTRA (Repeal) Bill was passed in  House of Representatives on June 13.

The repealing of the Bill – an election campaign promise was one of the first items on Prime Minister’s Kamla Persad-Bissessar agenda since her government took office.