THE EDITOR, Sir:THE CARTOON showing Minister Omar Davies waiting outside the door on the person just receiving an increase in minimum wage to take it away in taxes was most apt.
This is so, because it clearly shows that the government is only concerned in giving lip service to the betterment of the poor in the society, and any gains received by the poor are taken back with interest.
Because of this and the taxation policy the poor are finding it impossible to improve their status, because of being overburdened by tax and the removal of avenues for improvement because of government policy.
1) The Credit Unions which have flourished in Jamaica in the past 10 years, even when other financial institutions were falling like nine-pins, are being curtailed by Bank of Jamaica regulations effective 1st September 2003, outlawing co-making. So poor ordinary persons without financial collateral are being denied access to loans to educate their children or do any small business venture.
2) When the poor turn to the avenue of land ownership to better their status in life, they find that Land Surveyors fees have gone up by about 15 per cent, because Titles Office search has moved from $10 to $500. If the poor person can make the sacrifice to acquire a title, he finds that the exorbitant land tax which was introduced a year ago, and the increase in mortgage processing fees due to the aforementioned increase in Titles Office search fees, prevent him from using the title as collateral to borrow money to invest in any business venture.
3) As the abovementioned two avenues for empowerment are being closed, an avenue is being opened, because of the buy Jamaican products and use Jamaican services that are being promoted by the government, with the attendant benefit to the economy. However this fleeting hope is soon dashed because the plan, however laudable, does not "fly" because the government itself does not support it. This is obvious because the government awarded the schoolbook printing contract to an overseas printer denying 300 local persons, who were employed in the project in previous years, a source of income.
4) So when all these avenues of financial empowerment have been closed, surely the light at the end of the tunnel must be the Lotto. But even there, if you should beat the odds and catch the jackpot, 15 per cent of it now belongs to the government.
So where can the poor turn for economic empowerment?
The ember of Parliament, drugs, guns, or other illegal activities? And then we wonder why political tribalism and criminality are flourishing so much in our beautiful country.
I am, etc.,
AINSWORTH DICK
Kingston 5
