Wednesday 20 February 2013

Economics for Dummies: Tax More, Spend More, Borrow More


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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