The Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) has requested that Mayor of Georgetown, Ubraj Narine provide a list of the businesses that owe taxes.
Mayor Ubraj recently expressed frustration over the fact that over 140 “high-end” city businesses owe millions in taxes, which is affecting the City Council’s cash flow.
On Tuesday, the GCCI encouraged the Mayor to release the names of those who owe outstanding taxes while also expressing that the body is extremely disappointed by the “public and broad brush attack on the integrity of the entire business sector” by the Mayor.
In an interview with Inews, GCCI President, Nicholas Boyer said he is cognisant of the fact that some businesses in the city may run away from paying their taxes, however, he believes that direct appeals should be made to those establishments, rather than label every organisation with the same title.
“Before you got to that stage of just calling out high-end businesses and so those comments may start to create a more contentious atmosphere…we understand why he is doing it because he may feel like these businesses have not been paying taxes over such and such a period so maybe he feels frustration,” Boyer explained.
He added that the Chamber could have played the part of a mediator between those errant businesses and City Hall and seized the opportunity to encourage businesses to pay up their dues to M&CC.
