The recent advertisements in the newspapers informing the public about the tax amnesty being granted to people who did not pay taxes during the boom years is instructive. The income earners who owe a few thousand dollars in taxes will be grateful for the boon, but the real beneficiaries are the big businessmen who were buying US dollars in bulk and transferring it abroad. The ordinary citizen will now be required to absorb the losses, and hope that the economy can withstand the strain.
In the meantime, the authorities refuse to give a reasonable increase in pay to police officers and public servants, and force these officers to act in unapproved ways in pursuit of their cause. The same Government that says it cannot pay substantial increases to police officers and public servants can afford to grant tax amnesty worth billions of dollars to delinquent taxpayers.
It is not the money spent building the highway to Point Fortin that is preventing the Government from paying its workers adequately; it is the vast sums spirited out of the country by the carpetbaggers who exploited the boom years to fatten their bank accounts abroad. The Government needs to recognise the true enemy of economic recovery in T&T and guard against falling prey to the blandishments of the business elite.
Karan Mahabirsingh
Chase Village, Chaguanas