Guyana’s Mid-Year Report 2025 shows that more of the state’s revenue is now being collected where ordinary people live their economic lives, at the supermarket checkout and the hardware counter. In the first half of 2025, Value-Added and Excise Taxes climbed to G$61.05B, up G$5.2B on the same period last year, a rise the report links to stronger excise on imports (+23.7%) and higher VAT on imports. At the border, customs and trade taxes also increased to G$22.28B from G$18.43B, with motor vehicles and cement among the notable contributors, costs that ripple into shop prices once VAT is added.
While till-taxes rose, income tax collections fell 4.9% on account of threshold and rate changes, shifting the composition of who pays away from pay slips and toward purchases. The same report records tax remissions almost doubling year-over-year at mid-year, G$96.27B to G$179.44B, fueling a public perception that relief is expanding for some, even as shoppers face a bigger VAT bite.
For households, the mechanism is simple; VAT is charged on the selling price after import duties, fees and freight are embedded, and most businesses pass that statutory tax through to the shelf. When those upstream costs rise, “higher VAT” effectively means higher taxes for citizens. As one frustrated parent put it this week, “We are in an oil economy, why isn’t the government providing more relief by decreasing VAT?” The frustration is sharpened by the foreign-exchange reality documented in the report; the official rate stood at G$208.5/US$ while the market mid-rate hovered around G$218.1, a gap that lifts the Guyana dollar cost of many imports before VAT is applied.
Officials can fairly note there were no new taxes in the budget cycle, and that income-tax policy aimed to boost disposable income. But the mid-year numbers show a clear tilt in practice; more revenue from VAT/excise and border taxes, less from PAYE, in an economy where most workers and micro-businesses operate outside the formal PAYE net yet pay VAT every day. For consumers, the receipt tells the story; the state’s take is rising at the till, and businesses, by design of the tax, simply pass it on.
