The Tax Administration Management Information System (TAMIS) was implemented in Barbados in 2018, first for businesses and soon followed in early 2019 for individuals. It is no secret that the TAMIS was plagued with problems from its inception.
In 2021, then Revenue Commissioner, Louisa Lewis-Ward, was quoted in the press identifying a number of issues: “end-user discomfort, functional gaps, workflow problems, and reporting limitations“. In just three years after the TAMIS implementation, Commissioner Lewis-Ward was already preparing to throw out TAMIS, stating: “the system did cost quite a pretty penny and therefore, it’s not an easy decision to make to throw the baby out with the bath water.”
If a critical and costly implementation to the operations was poorly executed in the private sector such as TAMIS was, heads would surely have rolled. It is noteworthy that, despite a diligent search, the blogmaster was unable to identify the total cost to implement the TAMIS system and related maintenance programs. Then again, Barbadians are accustommed to being ‘carifested’ by successive governments regarding the true cost of public projects. It is ironic that the controversial Democratic Labour Party (DLP) Minister of Finance, Chris Sinckler, who approved the purchase of TAMIS, now sits in the Barbados Labour Party (BLP) cabinet in one of the greatest “WTF” moments in Barbados’ political history.
Fast forward to March 2026, Barbadians were met with the headline:BRA ANNOUNCES PLAN TO SEEK NEW TAX SYSTEM AS TAMIS DEEMED UNFIT FOR PURPOSE. Current Revenue Commissioner Jason King was reported as stating:
TAMIS, is no longer fit for purpose. This announcement was made by Revenue Commissioner of the BRA Jason King last night during the Authority’s public seminar at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre. Mr. King revealed that BRA will be requesting proposals for modernized tax system.
Since King’s statement, the blogmaster has not heard any probing questions about what accounted for the poor implementation of TAMIS, why it was not fit for purpose based on a relevant RFP, or why taxpayers have to meekly foot the bill for another tax system without a plausible explanation.
The collapse and abandonment of TAMIS is not merely a story of technological failure; it is a glaring indictment of institutional incompetence, a systemic lack of transparency, and a culture of zero accountability within our governments. Millions of taxpayer dollars have been sunk into the TAMIS project, yet officials responsible will predictably not be held to account . When a multimillion dollar system is declared “unfit for purpose” after only a few years, a functioning democracy should be able to demand answers.
Until we demand true transparency and hold public officials accountable for this level of mismanagement, our nation will continue to bleed scarce resources on current the trajectory.
The blogmaster invites you to join the discussion.