07/05/2017 12:04 PM
Barbados Revenue Authority Press Releases
Aliah Hazzard, a student of the Ellerslie Secondary School, copped the first prize of an iPhone 7 Plus in the Caribbean Organisation of Tax Administrators (COTA)/Barbados Revenue Authority Fifth Regional Essay Competition. As a result of her achievement, her school received a prize of $2500 and a plaque commemorating the win.
Second place went to Matthew Howell, a student of the Barbados Seventh Day Adventist Secondary School, who received a Samsung Tablet.
Wayne Forde, Director Shared Services, Barbados Revenue Authority congratulated the two students on their achievement.
“Today is a celebration. I would like to thank the participants for their submissions in the midst of their studies. Both entries were well thought through, so kudos to you,” he said.
“Your entries have been submitted to COTA to compete against the winning entries from the other CARICOM Member States and we wish you all the best in that aspect of the competition.”
Forde explained that the essay competition formed part of the Authority’s taxpayer outreach programme in the secondary schools.
“As a tax administration, the thrust for the Authority is in promoting voluntary tax compliance. We have been taking a more customer-focused approach to helping taxpayers become tax compliant and one of the areas we are trying to enhance is taxpayer outreach,” he said.
“One aspect of the outreach programme looks at future taxpayers, so we have started a tax education initiative in the secondary schools. We are seeking to help students become knowledgeable about the tax administration’s function, as the future taxpayers and decision-makers in the private and public sector. Since September last year, we have held sessions at eight secondary institutions and we will continue the programme into the next school year.”