Strategic Taxation and Jamaica's Floss Giants!
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| UDC 'Fireworks on the Waterfront' Watching scarce foreign exchange go up in smoke |
How does the Government decide what to tax and what not to tax and why? Are they just looking at their budgetary shortfall then look around the economy to see what they can make a quick buck from, in the shortest space of time? In my view Taxation should be strategically applied in order to protect local industry and promote growth both in the short and long term. One just cannot look at the productive sector, one that is adding value to our economy and society and gouge them out with taxes.
Jamaica’s problem is well defined, we suffer from very low almost anemic productivity in almost all sectors and we suffer from a very large negative balance of trade. Jamaica imports in value over 5 times what we export in value and most of this over the top imports comes in the form of consumer goods, rubbish resulting in our Foreign Exchange problem. Any tax plan that is put in place should be targeted with precision and with meaning, to encourage production growth sectors and discourage economic leakage.
Applying too much taxes will affect the Governments ultimate objectives of raising revenue and generating growth because at some point it will affect the rate of return, creating a diminishing rate of return. You cannot tax and austerity your way to growth even though Jamaica is in need of a good amount of austerity and taxes which could help to prepare the way for growth by easing our financial burden, reduce loans and helping to balance the financial books, which are in a disgusting state.
Growth requires spending and spending needs optimism… but apply too much tax and too much austerity can kill economic optimism, reduce spending and thus prevent any chance of growth…. So there is a fine line between the need to balance the financial books and getting your financial house in order and still leave enough optimism in place for spending and investment to occur.
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| ClovisToons |
Could it be that the eyes of Jamaica’s political class are open to the fact that Jamaica has very little wiggle room from which to move and maneuver. No member of the Political Class is making any big promises or making threats of dismantling and changing course. Since we have long since run out of courses to change and the world has better things to do than to worry about our sorry asses.
I read the other day someone said that the Government should go back to the IMF and renegotiate the terms, I almost died with laughter. Talk about delusion of grandeur, basking in our own self-importance without two cents to rub together. Jamaica does not have a leg to stand on, how can you renegotiate when you are not doing so from a position of any power and what are you going to bring to the renegotiating table, Tessanne Chin? I can see it now, “we a beg yu a money, zeen but it has to be on our terms”…and everyone round the table died laughing
What are Floss Items?
These are items that are off no real National Importance, they are items that are imported to support the fad based, floss culture that we have developed in Jamaica. It was Floss items that allowed Christopher Columbus and the Spaniards to gain a foot hold in the new world thus allowing them to exterminate the indigenous population and it was floss items that caused some Africans to join in with the slave trade by capturing their brothers and sisters for European slave traders. Look shiny beads and mirrors and before you know it the Spaniards are loping heads off with their swords..
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| ClovisToons |
So much people like this about complaining that they cannot find food to feed the family but they are always shopping, have nice things and never miss a merriment event. Floss items and the act of flossing, appeal to certain type of people with simplistic mindsets and Jamaica is full of simple minded people regardless of educational background. As a matter of fact I can understand the poor and uneducated need for floss over the educated class, simply because with education they were supposed to use that superior knowledge and make better, solid life changing decisions but I have long since realized that education does not guarantee intelligence nor does it guarantee commonsense and that there is very little difference between a poor fool and an educated fool, they both just damn fools!...
The need for imported gadgetry in Jamaica is strong and characterized by a strong Inelasticity of Demand, this is because of our need, and a deep desire to impress other Jamaicans and to outdo them. We are an Over the top Profiling Country where everything must be designer this and brand name that, which is the average Jamaicans only measurement of quality. In Jamaica “designer this and brand name that “means simply IMPORTS, since local goods and services are no longer classed as designer this or a brand name that, they are no longer must haves. I am happy to say I grew up in a Jamaica that had several local designer this and brand name that which were must haves but those days are long gone.
I was once at the Airport duty free trying to buy a bottle of Appleton Rum 21 but the sales clerk was busy trying her best to get me to buy a bottle of Imported Hennessy instead. Imagine that, a duty free store in Jamaica trying to get people (a Jamaican) to buy an imported item over a quality locally produced item…. That speaks volume to me because she was not trying to sell it based on superior taste and real quality but instead she was trying to appeal to my inner Jamaican desire for floss items with perceived quality…and I have no such desires.
Designers cars, Brazilian weave hair, skin bleach, top of the line electronic gadgets like phones, Hennessy, imported water, congested roads with bighead SUV’s, imported red peas, onions …. I can go on and on but all these items are just Floss Items and most Jamaicans prefer floss over substance anytime. A friend of mine told me she once saw a man trying to put a Lexus logo on his Toyota motor car and the reason he gave her was that the Lexus logo was 'more special', ....floss lipstick on a pig comes to mind.
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| In Jamaica we have Floss Giants not Frost Giants |
This importation madness, this flossing gone wild situation is ripe and ready for some brutal taxation, this is the revenue stream the Government has been looking for and it is right under their nose. Just tax the bloody floss items and since it is proven that no matter what the price, Jamaicans will still continue to Import Brazilian Hair, drink Hennessy and have 3 different smart phones strap to their blasted belts the decision is easy, apply as much tax as possible, if for nothing else but a social experiment to see at what level these muppets will reduce import and flossing.
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| Are there any Brazilians left with hair on their heads? |
"It cost patrons as much as four times what it costs for Yush — $3,000 at the gate, $2,500 presold — to attend other parties, including the Ibiza-themed Boxing Day party at Kingston Polo Club, Utopia, which was $12,000 at the gate."...Jamaicans also have a strong Inelasticity of demand for Merriment, we love to party like the world will end in the morning. 2013 was a year when almost everyone took to social media and declared that life is hard and times tough and the Government was trying to kill them but in 2013 the Merriment “Tun-Up” as Jamaicans turn out in droves to attend various events from stage shows, to Dancehall, Clubs, fashion show, Jazz Festivals, wine tasting events and weekend long parties at various coastal resorts.
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| The Suffering Masses, Look how Government a kill them!! |
Jamaica’s entertainment industry is making billions as a result of this. In the summer it was reported that Jamaicans where going to financial institutions to borrow money so they could attend various events and there are financial institutions created just to provide party loans to the people so they could satisfy their partying needs. With such a strong desire to waste money the Government should put in place a special Merriment Tax, tax each and every event, tax the hell out of it since the price increase will not stop them from partying like the world will end in the morning…
Yea $12000 per head partaay..This is how we roll!
But Merriment and Politics goes hand in hand, the political class needs this atmosphere of free for all merriment because it takes up the time and attention of the people, it is a source of diversion, better they jump around like circus clowns than attack the Political class with pitchfork, tar and feathers. I remember a member of the last Government declaring that his Government should relax the end time for nightly events, at the time an election was fast approaching.
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| ClovisToons A good day at the races!! |
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| Jamaica's Suffering Masses!! At Sting 2013 |
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Jamaica Observer: When clothing grows on fences... By Barbara GLOUDON
Gleaner: The Economics Of Hair And Growth... By..Aubyn Hill
Jamaica Observer: In tight economy, party promoters claim business as usual ...Don’t stop the music ....
I recently got an email from a young lady, a one Natalie Outar, who was very upset that I made reference to Lady Saw’s crotches. My response is that, if the lady in question, who is clearly not a lady, is low class enough, void of morality and positivity to present the crotch in question for public viewing, putting it on public display for money then the public have a right to comment on the said publicly viewed crotch in question… A person cannot decide to make their living from vulgarity and then expects to be treated with the same respect one would treat a person who operates with high moral standards.
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