By EDDIE OSIFELO
BILLS and Legislative Committee has postponed its inquiry into the Tax Administration Bill 2022 on Tuesday.
This is to allow Ministry of Finance and Treasury to furnish the metadata to the Committee.
Metadata is a set of data that describes and gives information about other data.
Leader of Opposition, Mathew Wale said the Committee might issue a letter on Tuesday outlining what data they need.
Wale said it might be useful for the committee to understand policy made in the Bill.
He said that information would be useful for other stakeholders who will appear before the Committee when presenting their views.
Inland Revenue Division (IRD) Commissioner, Joseph Dokekana said in terms of provision of data, it could be the overall figures, not the names or other details of specific tax payers.
He said IRD is bound by confidentiality when it comes to releasing information to the public.
Dokekana said the information or figures should be available in two days’ time.
Chairman of BLC John Maneioru said the resumption of the inquiry depends on the availability of the metadata to the Secretariate.
He said once the Secretariate receives the information, it will advice BLC to resume the hearing.
The object of the Tax Administration Bill 2022 is to provide for the administration of the tax laws of Solomon Islands, with the intention of providing a modern administrative basis for the tax system and ensuring that arrangements are consistent across the different taxes administered by the Commissioner.
