Tax the churches
Dear Editor,
One of the biggest hurdles any government of Jamaica confronts is the difficulty in raising revenues for all the legitimate needs of the country. So far successive governments have been running with upturned palms to foreign lending agencies for loans to meet their operating costs as well as the debt-servicing requirements.
At present, the value of Jamaica’s imports is more than four times the value of its exports. While boosting production especially for exports is attractive, it will not solve the problem of severe governmental insolvency. New revenue streams are needed. One that is overlooked is the growing number of churches on the island. The churches should be considered legitimate businesses and taxed accordingly. The income derived from taxing churches will not entirely repair the deficiency, but it should go some way toward reducing it.
Samuel Daniels
Kingston
