Singular subjects - My ranting
Published:Monday | December 20, 2010 | 12:00 AM
The Soloist, Contributor
It's been some year, huh? I hasten to say of all the persons I would not want to be, Prime Minister Bruce Golding is number one! What a country, what a people, what harsh things the elements do to us and, worst of all, what a bunch of people to lead? If I had to supervise some of those ministers, I'd shake them till their teeth rattle, first thing every morning.
So who would I like to be right now? I would like to be anyone too young for responsibility. I need to be a child with no bills to pay, especially electricity! My wish for Christmas is to wake up and find that the Jamaica Public Service has been joined by some serious competition that's efficient, responsible and much less expensive to consumers.
My other wish is to see things really get moving in the right progressive direction in downtown Kingston. Yes, I mean that all the talk must finally cease and we see bricks and mortar rise from ruins to embrace the masses of humanity who will work, play, dine, sing, party, wheel and deal in the safe, productive environment it ought to be. In other words, I am asking town planners, engineers, government, technocrats to put up or shut up already! Downtown is pregnant with possibilities, let's not abort it!
Enough preaching
OK, enough preaching. I am going to whine a bit about 'that great Jamaican beer'. wait a minute, how can it be Jamaican if it is made elsewhere? It will just be like a whole lot of canned foods that carry local labels but are produced a farrin! Come on Diageo, what about product/brand authenticity? I can assure you that I will not drink another bottle of Red Stripe if oono take it away; I might as well drink Beck's or Coors.
Anyway, it is alleged that the powers that be have wanted to ship out the production lines from as far back as 2003; this reaction to taxation is just a sort of catalyst. Let's wait and see.
And speaking of taxation, when are our lazy technocrats and lawmakers going to find a way to scour the length and breadth of Jamaica and ferret out the real tax dodgers? Seems like there are too many sitting ducks in their line of fire so they tax the same things in cycles. Here is a head start.
How many of you out there have neighbours who are dressmakers at home for donkey's years making tons of money and paying no tax?
How many of you know someone who has a shop, beauty parlour, big-time wedding-cake business, flower shop, drapery and upholstery, tailor shop or restaurant at home that's successfully run and pays you hundreds of thousands of dollars every year, yet you pay no tax? I went to a very successful restaurant in a house off the Washington Boulevard recently, very nice operation. I wondered about the tax business at the time.
Tax scouts needed
How many people do you know who operate a successful garage in the backyard but pay no tax?
We need some tax scouts who will find all these people. Pass a law to to say if they have been operating successfully for five years or more, they should each pay a million right away. You can identify them easily, what they drive, the school their children attend, the condition of their homes, what they wear etc. It's not rocket science. Send out some tax scouts/spies and take the nation street by street. There is a gold mine out there. If you can't do that, abolish the income-tax system and replace it with the model used in The Bahamas!
Merry Christmas!