Students Encouraged to Participate in COTA Essay Competition

Secondary Students are being encouraged to participate in the Caribbean Organisation of Tax Administrators (COTA)/Tax Administration Jamaica, Fifth Regional Essay Competition.

It is open to students between the ages of 14 and 15 years, who are required to construct an essay around the topic ‘If I were the Head of my Country’s Tax Administration, what would I do to increase tax revenues to fund Government’s development programme’.

The competition is a major element of COTA’s public education programme, which is aimed at stimulating a broad interest in tax matters.

According to a bulletin issued by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Information (MOEYI), the competition is aimed at encouraging youth to become knowledgeable about the tax administration function as potential taxpayers and decision-makers in the private and public sphere as well as to engender an interest in this field as a career choice

The competition is being coordinated by the CARICOM Secretariat, in collaboration with the participating Inland Revenue/Tax Administration Department in each Member State.

Schools are required to submit essays to the Commissioner of the Inland Revenue/Tax Administration Department in their respective Member State on or before May 15, 2017.

The Head of each participating Inland Revenue/Tax Administration Department will also be responsible for adjudicating the essays at the national level and for forwarding same to the CARICOM Secretariat for final determination of the regional winners.

The top-three local essays will be submitted to the Regional Competition.

The essays should be between 800 and 1,000 words, and each entry must contain the name of the Member State; the name of the school; and the name, age and grade of the competing student.

Evaluation criteria will be based on knowledge and understanding of the tax administration function, the country’s tax structure and current modernisation drivers; the relevance and depth of research; quality of argumentation; ingenuity of ideas and use of examples/illustrations, and the use of proper grammar and punctuation.

Winners will be published by the CARICOM Secretariat in July 2017. Students will be vying for a trophy and US$1,000 for first prize; US$700 and US$500 for the second and third prizes, respectively.

Schools attended by the winners will also receive a prize.

For further information, persons may contact Mr. Paul-Davey Ashley, Senior Education Officer, Schools Operations, MOEYI, at paul.ashley@moey.gov.jm, or call 612-6068; or the Tax Administration at communications@taj.gov.jm, or call 922-8746: 1888-829-4357, or visit www.jamaicatax.gov.jm.