Dear Editor,
I can't understand what all the fuss is about with the proposed tax on refined sugar.
The manufacturers want to have their cake and eat it too. None of them is importing refined sugar for the retail market, yet, every supermarket one goes into it is well stocked with refined sugar. How do they explain that?
This is not leakage, it is haemorrhaging. The Government shouldn't take the easiest way out by taxation. They should target supermarkets and any uncustomed refined sugar found should be confiscated and a heavy fine imposed on the owners and, if can be proven, the suppliers as well. Besides, all retail sugar in these establishments should be properly packaged and labelled.
Jamaica is sugar-producing country, and should remain that way. It is a tragedy to import molasses and sugar from anywhere, in any form. The most practical solution to this, which no one is talking about, is to build a state-of-art sugar refinery. Why can't Seprod and other businesses in Jamaica get together and build this refinery? For years this writer has been advocating for just that. In my opinion, we should have done this a long time ago. Then the country wouldn't be having this problem.
There is no sugar refinery in the region. So the domestic market as well as Caricom is available. And we don't need any outside investment to do this. The money is right there in Jamaica.
We could also purchase raw sugar from within Caricom for refining purposes and sell it back to the region. This is called value-added.
This state-of-the-art refinery could produce ethanol for fuel for the domestic as well as the international markets. Also, we could produce hydrous ethanol, which is a derivative of molasses for the production of rum -- another of the country's main exports. The possibilities include all types of refined and granulated sugar for the various industries, vinegar, and possibly a low calorie sweetener along the lines of Splenda.
To achieve this all the country needs to do is to increase their sugar cane production significantly, thereby creating and generating meaningful jobs that are so vital in revitalising the country's economy.
We have the workforce, thousand of acres of idle lands, water and sunlight. So what is the problem? What are we waiting for? What else do we need to be motivated. Why is the media and the Opposition, among others, not in on this? Your guess is a good as mine.
Noel Mitchell
Westchester, New York, USA
nlmworld@yahoo.com
Gov't taking easy way out with sugar cess, missing opportunities
-->
I can't understand what all the fuss is about with the proposed tax on refined sugar.
The manufacturers want to have their cake and eat it too. None of them is importing refined sugar for the retail market, yet, every supermarket one goes into it is well stocked with refined sugar. How do they explain that?
This is not leakage, it is haemorrhaging. The Government shouldn't take the easiest way out by taxation. They should target supermarkets and any uncustomed refined sugar found should be confiscated and a heavy fine imposed on the owners and, if can be proven, the suppliers as well. Besides, all retail sugar in these establishments should be properly packaged and labelled.
Jamaica is sugar-producing country, and should remain that way. It is a tragedy to import molasses and sugar from anywhere, in any form. The most practical solution to this, which no one is talking about, is to build a state-of-art sugar refinery. Why can't Seprod and other businesses in Jamaica get together and build this refinery? For years this writer has been advocating for just that. In my opinion, we should have done this a long time ago. Then the country wouldn't be having this problem.
There is no sugar refinery in the region. So the domestic market as well as Caricom is available. And we don't need any outside investment to do this. The money is right there in Jamaica.
We could also purchase raw sugar from within Caricom for refining purposes and sell it back to the region. This is called value-added.
This state-of-the-art refinery could produce ethanol for fuel for the domestic as well as the international markets. Also, we could produce hydrous ethanol, which is a derivative of molasses for the production of rum -- another of the country's main exports. The possibilities include all types of refined and granulated sugar for the various industries, vinegar, and possibly a low calorie sweetener along the lines of Splenda.
To achieve this all the country needs to do is to increase their sugar cane production significantly, thereby creating and generating meaningful jobs that are so vital in revitalising the country's economy.
We have the workforce, thousand of acres of idle lands, water and sunlight. So what is the problem? What are we waiting for? What else do we need to be motivated. Why is the media and the Opposition, among others, not in on this? Your guess is a good as mine.
Noel Mitchell
Westchester, New York, USA
nlmworld@yahoo.com
Gov't taking easy way out with sugar cess, missing opportunities
-->