Dear Editor,

I must register my dismay at the tax package unleashed by the government on Jamaicans. Is this what they refer to as tax reform? Is this what the prime minister calls balancing the books with balancing people’s lives? Because that scale looks very unbalanced to me, I really wonder how much time the government sat to consider the implications that its actions will have on the people that they were elected to serve, even after getting an extra month to prepare the budget, and this is the best they could come with? What is even worse is that we are going to just sit back and let them get away with it whereas, if the current Opposition had done this, there would be loud protests and perhaps even civil unrest.

I must register my dismay at the tax package unleashed by the government on Jamaicans. Is this what they refer to as tax reform? Is this what the prime minister calls balancing the books with balancing people’s lives? Because that scale looks very unbalanced to me, I really wonder how much time the government sat to consider the implications that its actions will have on the people that they were elected to serve, even after getting an extra month to prepare the budget, and this is the best they could come with? What is even worse is that we are going to just sit back and let them get away with it whereas, if the current Opposition had done this, there would be loud protests and perhaps even civil unrest.

The PNP government has demonstrated utter hypocrisy with the unveiling of this new budget they claim to be pro-business and supporting the growth of the productive sector, yet their actions say differently: almost every industry from agriculture to tourism and everything in between are adversely affected. They are now forced to increase operating costs and increase their prices as well, in an economy where many an average consumer is finding it difficult to survive. This forces the public to decrease spending even further, and this will have a ripple effect as many businesses will be forced to fight a two-front war of increased costs and lower levels of sales. As one would expect, no business can survive in such a situation and will eventually have to close down.

Many tourists will also be deterred from visiting because of the increased room tax that is to placed on the hotel industry. While on the subject, I cannot help but talk about the tax placed on textbooks and other printed material. I really must wonder if this is the same government that claims to be progressive and forward-thinking. Is this the same government that claims that it wants to “rescue Jamaica”?

The retrograde step of placing a tax on literary material is a disgrace, and I am taken aback that the PNP could even think of doing that when it was they who sharply criticised the JLP for doing something similar when they were in office. The tables have now turned.

What I find disturbing and also arrogant is that the government seems to be under the impression that we are idiots. One of the election promises was to remove GCT from all electricity bills, yet the PNP knew perfectly well that only a small percentage of the population would be affected by the move, while many consumers of electricity would still be unable to cope, even with the removal of GCT.

They also promised to lower the current rate of GCT from 17.5 per cent but conveniently omitted to say by how much. Lowering it to a mere one per cent will not do anybody much good except to give the PNP some bragging rights. The tax measures rolled out by the government inclines me to agree with the Opposition leader when he refers this budget as not bitter medicine, but poison. The government came to office by sugarcoating everything, instead of telling us the harsh but simple truth. It is clear that the wolf has been stripped of its sheep’s clothing to reveal its true form. We have no one to blame but ourselves. After all, we are the ones who put them there in the first place.

Jason Green

Sirj_green@hotmail.com