Jamaican Till I Die!

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 targete...

In January of 2010 the IMF announced that its was in agreement with the Government of Jamaica for a bailout loan of US$1.2 Billion under a 27-month Stand-By Arrangement. By 2011 Jamaica’s IMF agreement derailed as Jamaica did not sit the review test for quarters ending December, June and September and the IMF has said it would not go to its board until Jamaica is able to get the programme back on track, as such Jamaica was unable to drawn down any more money from the fund. Under the 27-month agreement with the IMF, Jamaica had agreed to reduce the public-sector wage bill from 11.5 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) to 9.5 per cent of GDP. Prime Minister Bruce Golding told Parliament that the requirement could lead to approximately 10,000 job cuts, which I think was a conservative estimate as some experts predicted close to 30,000. The IMF declared that Jamaica has not been moving fast enough to affect necessary reforms under the 27-month standby arrangement and so they...