The National Democratic Movement (NDM) is shocked and dismayed that the PNP administration has again increased taxes on the poor, suffering, disenfranchised and barely surviving public. The NDM wants to know when will this ‘gluttonous’ “fat-cats” government’ understand that the Jamaican people can hardly survive and that many are going to bed hungry nightly, with some on the verge of starvation.
The NDM is of the view that the tax increases imposed by successive governments over many years have not met the targeted projections of additional taxes, yet administration after administration continue to increase taxes. “This heartless PNP government seem never to learn, doing the same thing year after year and always expecting different results”, said the NDM.
The Movement states that, “The new tax imposed on ATM and Internet transactions have now gone where no previous Administration has gone before and starts a very dangerous precedent. The near rapacious banks have been seeking ways to continue gouging the Jamaican banking public, and now this desperate and wicked government has joined the fray by going after the poor consumers withdrawing their hard-earned and already shrinking dollar or paying bills (which are already taxed)”.
The NDM asserts that, it is widely accepted that corruption and wasteful expenditure in Jamaica is in the region of 40% of the capital budget. For this fiscal year with the capital budget at thirty five billion dollars, if the government were to cut that 40% (corruption) to 20%, they would not need to increase taxes.
Contact: Peter Townsend, LLB (Hons.), CLU, ChFC President
(876) 863 1769