The election process of the new holder of the Superintendence of Tax Administration (SAT) will enter the reception phase of accusations or objections of citizens about possible impediments so that any of the 31 applicants assume the Directorate of the Tax Collection Entity.
Civil society organizations that monitor the process, such as ICEFI, ask that the evaluation of objections or impediments be carried out with transparency and objectivity.
The SAT reported that objections or accusations related to the 31 professionals who presented their file to qualify for the position will be received on March 17 and 18 in Its central offices or by email.
Applicants against those who have presented objections may present their discharge tests from March 18 to 20.
Subsequently, the SAT directory will evaluate the accusations and discharges. That body is made up of the Minister of Finance, Jonathan Menkos, together with the directors of the SAT Adriana Estévez Clavería and Julio Roca Morales.
It is important that, by analyzing any objection and discharge tests, objectivity prevails, according to the Central American Institute of Fiscal Studies (ICEFI), which monitors the election process.
Privilege transparency
Ricardo Barrientos, economist and researcher at ICEFI, commented that, at this stage, it is essential to take care of the transparency of the process, something that, so far, the authorities have managed to maintain.
“From what we are seeing so far, there is a substantial difference with previous processes. It is a much more public and transparent process, as evidenced by the way they shared, through social networks, the information of each of the applicants, ”said Barrientos.
“What interests us is that the process is transparent, with objective evaluations and that the honesty of the candidacies be verified,” he said.
Conflict of interest, disadvantage or favoritism
In addition to a rigorous evaluation, it is important that the committee warns possible cases of conflict of interest, in order to avoid situations of disadvantage or favoritism among applicants. “We hope there are no favoritism, sectoral interests or any other, but that each of the profiles is evaluated on equal conditions and objectivity,” he said.
Applicants who exceed the stage of citizen objections and continue in the process will be submitted to interviews led by the members of the Board of Directors. At the discretion of Barrientos, the interview questions must be techniques, so that each candidate demonstrates their academic preparation.
The new Tax Administration Superintendent must take possession on April 14. Its main task will be to guarantee the collection of taxes for state operation.