In October, 40 participants turned up for the latest International Tax Stamp Association (ITSA) webinar, which was in Spanish only and directed towards tax and customs authorities across Latin America.
The webinar provided updates on information presented at ITSA’s in-person seminar in June, in Santiago, Chile, and allowed those authorities not able to attend the June seminar to share their experiences and concerns.
Presentations during the webinar covered the tax stamp and traceability experiences of Chile, Colombia, Argentina and the Dominican Republic, as well as a presentation on guidelines for implementing the WHO FCTC Protocol for those revenue authorities already using tobacco tax stamps.
During the Chile presentation, Carolina Saravia of the national tax authority pointed out that the cost of her country’s tobacco traceability system – approximately CLP 3 billion ($3.1 million) per year – was far outweighed by the additional CLP 100 billion ($103 million) in tax revenues thus far recovered by the system, which was introduced in 2019.
Jorge Miñoso, formerly of the Dominican Republic tax authority, was asked if the authority intended to incorporate other products to its tax stamp and traceability programme – which already covers beer, wine, spirits and tobacco products. He responded that given the country’s positive experience with the system in terms of identifying and reducing criminal activity, the authority was looking at extending it to e-cigarettes and vaping, since this was where the market was heading.
Claudio Pino of SICPA, who gave the FCTC Protocol presentation, was asked what type of traceability system he would consider more secure than others. His recommendation was that governments, when evaluating the implementation of such programmes, should refer to the ITSA blueprint for a Protocol-compliant tobacco control system, which guides authorities on what to consider during the tendering and implementation processes. The blueprint is available on the ITSA website at https://tax-stamps.org/proposal-for-an-fctc-protocol-compliant-tobacco-control-system-blue-print/
The next question came from Paola Vinueza of the Ecuador tax authority, who mentioned that, in 2021, the authority issued a resolution that put the taxpayer in charge of choosing their own tax stamps and tax stamp provider. Listening to the different speakers during the webinar, she said she was surprised this had been allowed to happen, given that the generally accepted best practice seemed to be for governments to be the controller of tax stamp and traceability systems.
Francisco Mandiola replied that most institutions had indeed found that systems managed by government authorities were the ‘ideal’.
Jorge Miñoso added that both the WHO Protocol and ISO standard for tax stamps concur that it is the government agency that should have control over systems and providers, and not the taxpayer. He also said that, as a former tax authority official, experience had shown him that systems that put the entities being regulated in charge of information pertaining to their own taxable income were not generally a good idea.
