This week I intend to write on something that has been in
the news since last week, this concerns the new tax package which the
government has again unleashed on the people of this country and needless to
say the government has failed miserably with a capital F. In this latest development in the saga our ever increasing
downward spiral, taxes were hiked on P.A.Y.E workers , ports of entry, stamp
duties as well as a whole new set of
increases to the General Consumption Tax (GCT) and Special Consumption Tax
(SCT), all this against the backdrop of the Jamaican Dollar (JMD) currently
standing at $96.07 to United States $1.00, inflation in this country is at the
worst it has ever been, commodity prices are sky high while consumer confidence
extremely low, the government could not have done this at a worst possible time.
As one would expect, the people of Jamaica are quite
displeased with the government, everyone including Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition, various private sector groups as well as political pundits and financial analyst are taking the government to
task over its handling of the situation and rightly so,The President of the Private Sector Organization (PSOJ)
expressed his horror that the government decided to proceed
as it saw fit without consulting any of the relevant stakeholders, while the
Opposition for their part have called the taxes illegal since in essence what
the government is really doing violates the principle of “no double taxation”
as the government is effectively levying taxes on retailers, consumers and also
manufacturers (in some cases) for the same products.
Of course I cannot talk about the latest tax package without
mentioning the most stinging point which has to do with the National Housing Trust,
let me start by saying that my heart really goes out to everyone who has been
adversely affected by this act of cruelty and tyranny on that part of our
elected leaders, This administration has
very little conscience dipping their fingers into taxpayers hard earned savings
at the NHT, some persons had spent most of their adult working lives making contributions to the NHT and still they have not been able take out a mortgage on a house of their desire,
now with the government stealing their hard earned savings the dreams of many
ordinary working class Jamaicans may never become a reality all because the
government wasn't prudent enough to not let the national debt reach this
enormous stage in the first place.
Some may argue in defence of the government by claiming that
their hands are tied and that these measures are forced through by the International Monetary Fund rather than by
the government, this while true is in
itself a source of contention as it is clear that the GoJ under duress from the IMF have seen it fit to
impose these measures without even first tabling them in the House of
Representatives a clear violation of the constitution which says that all money
bills shall be introduced in the House, the actions of the government are
clearly unconstitutional as they violate the principle of no taxation without representation, it
also violates the principle of parliamentary supremacy which is a key
ingredient in our Westminster system of
government.
The Government has
shown that fiscal prudence is certainly not it’s strong suit as all these
measures put forward only serve one purpose only, borrowing money from the IMF
to repay its debts, the trouble with that is that sooner or later they will
have to borrow from somebody else to repay the IMF and so on and so forth, the
cycle will be a never ending one. These people
never learn; borrowing to pay debt is nonsense, robbing Peter to pay Paul will
only work for a while but after that who are you going to rob in order to pay Peter? The best way to get out of debt is by working
to pay it off, being fiscally conservative is the best way to go, the
government is encouraging the rest of
the country to exercise discipline and tighten their belts while they themselves continue to live in luxury if that is not hypocrisy then I don't know what is, what they really should
do is take their own advice and do the same.
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