Attention: Miss Lisa Hanna….It Will Attract Both Sides
RE: JLP’s TEN POINT PLAN
Dear Miss Hanna,
Word got out that you posted, on your Facebook page, about the Jamaica Labour Party’s Ten Point Plan. Notably, the one on tax reduction. Thank you so much for your salient views. I must say you were, indeed, a wonderful representative in the Miss Jamaica World and the Miss World pageants in 1993. To this day your prowess in that field remains unrivaled.
You sit deep in our hearts as Jamaicans because of your accomplishments and we sincerely love and adore you. Also, thank you for your dedicated contribution and tenure as Minister of Youth and Culture. Additionally, I want to apologize for Mr. Warmington’s rude remark to you in parliament because I don’t share his sentiment.
However, giving a written insight is totally different from debating these points. Your views are just an academic approach to the topic because each contract with the International Monetary Fund is tailored with respect to each economy it encounters. However, leadership style and the chain of command would never allow you to voice yourself so loudly before now.
The fact is that if we stop eating rice, we still have to find alternate ways to consume starch. We now have to devise a way to find a source that’s healthy and affordable while we choose to limit our intake. The bottom line is that this highlighted tax reduction will appeal to the employed masses and not all tax eligible individuals.
Any adjustment to the General Consumption Tax may be an option but is just a speculation for now. Jamaicans love to resist change! Yet, it is the acceptance of change that will allow for all on the floor to pay their taxes. The difficulty of collecting from those who are self-employed is another stumbling block to this measure.
I don’t even think, for one minute, that the IMF has our interest at heart. It is the one organization that plays politics in as many countries as it is allowed. It serves, only, to have control over these countries and its people. In the long run it will eventually seize our assets, including natural resources, prime properties, institutions and anything else that it deems valuable if we don’t limit our dependency.
Not to detract from the issues of taxation, but just to highlight that we need to retake the stance of solid governmental control over certain industries and relax our involvement in the privatization of key industries. It is not time to attack any aspect of the ‘Ten Point Plan’ but to allow the process to start and see its impact as we go along.
Remember, there is no set science in governance because to change a country’s situation we must first change its mental culture and that’s the hardest task and the core of any developmental changes. The culture of tax evasion has to be halted and a better appreciation for the value of taxes has to be embraced. Yet the most sensible approach is a zero tolerance for corruption at all levels, including extortion.
We have to find the elements and outlets of waste and eliminate or tighten them. That includes stemming the high cost of resisting criminal activities; limiting the monetary waste in closing key industries due to mismanagement; reinvesting in aspects of training with emphasis on specialized skills; and identifying the relationship between job training and job creation.
For me, the most critical exploration is reviving our own unique culture that can be marketed to the international market. Therefore, the resuscitation of the music industry, coupled with a bigger investment in tourism must be the beginning of turning around this failing economy. Our culture is our prime asset! This can only be achieved through responsible accountability at all levels.
In closing, I must say that to sit and question only one of ten points is similar to sitting an exam and scoring well one of the many questions, yet failing to respond to the others with effort. You can’t get a passing grade that way! It is a ten point plan and we have to start seeing the whole picture rather than spend time segmenting it without seeing the bigger picture.
With all respect our ‘Beauty Queen’, I ask for your continued and valuable input and your tolerance with this direction. You made some salient points and I hope to see them being taken under advisement. However, please don’t panic as yet and stay calm, the Honourable Andrew Holness has got this!
I AM LYLE PURPLEHEART – @PurpleHeart
Oakley Lyle is an author and poet – Visit his Facebook Page HERE
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