A divided House of Representatives passed the Trinidad and Tobago Revenue Authority (TTRA) Bill on Friday, by 21 government MPs voting for and 15 opposition MPs voting against, with no abstentions.

Wrapping up the debate, Finance Minister Colm Imbert brushed off previous opposition calls to simply improve the existing tax and customs departments - rather than create an umbrella TTRA to replace both bodies - as he said that had been repeatedly tried over the years.

To make his point, Imbert said famous scientist Albert Einstein had once said the definition of insanity was to try the same steps over and over while expecting to produce a different result.

He said without opposition support to pass the bill by a special majority, the bill would instead create a hybrid system of appointments.

Imbert said while the TTRA itself would be empowered to hire staff such as cleaners and clerks, its enforcement officers would only be hired by the Public Service Commission.

He said the bill was long overdue, having been through joint select committees of Parliament at length and been the subject of numerous consultations. Those consulted included public and private bodies, business associations, practitioners and trade unions.

"This matter has been before Parliament for 11 years."

Imbert said the TTRA will take TT's revenue collection into the 21 century.

He said the bill would let suitable people be hired and properly paid.

"I am satisfied that even though this is a hybrid model, this is a quantum leap for TT and will go a long way to allowing the Government to close the gap between the available tax collection, in terms of persons who avoid the tax, persons who evade tax, persons who are outside of the tax net even though they earn large sums of money thereby placing a very unfair burden on conscientious taxpayers many of whom have no choice but to pay tax because it is deducted at source."

Imbert said once the TTRA is up and running, the country will soon increase its tax take by billions of dollars which are currently not collected because of inefficiencies in the existing system.

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