Dear Editor,
There is a video on YouTube with a man peeling a pine from the inside. It has gone viral. When he was finished the skin was intact but the meat of the pine fell out. Never in my lifetime have I ever seen this level of lateral thinking.
We have become accustomed to people doing things one way for decades, but isn’t it time to start thinking out of the box.
When Dr Peter Phillips sought to introduce a tax on bank withdrawals, that was lateral thinking, but people rebelled and the Government backpedalled. Dr Phillips went back to the old-style methods of taxing the working poor and the people who had carried the bulk of taxes on our backs for decades with little or no growth.
The Opposition believes that what Shaw has effectively done is reverse the system and now the whole nation will be taxed to pay for the break to PAYE employees. They preferred the reverse, where we bore the brunt of taxation and the burden of paying for the bulk of services the nation enjoyed. It couldn’t last; sacrifices, wage freezes and constant devaluation of the Jamaican dollar with not a shred of growth.
President Obama on his visit to Jamaica said, “The best way for a country to reduce debt is to grow the economy really fast.” Not continue austerity policies.
Dr Phillips was at the same Caribbean Policy Research Institute (CaPRI) and World Bank seminar, as was Audley Shaw, on Mauritius’s success in growing her economy for decades at five per cent.
Even though with a bit of a shaky start, Shaw has sought to mix austerity and stimulus. Dr Phillips was a disciple of austerity. When would the economy be ready for stimulus? Never under his leadership.
Shaw needs to go further, but he too is afraid of the dark and lateral thinking. He needs to cut the tax rate and he will get higher revenues; lower import duties, which will reduce the cost of food and other items; and equalise personal and corporate taxes. This will unleash the potential for growth, instead of worrying about oil prices which we cannot stop from increasing.
While we are at it, we should keep Venezuela in our prayers; many of us would be bankrupt years ago without their oil bailout. A friend in need is a friend indeed and not a friend to be avoided as we seem to be doing.
Mark Clarke
Siloah PO, St Elizabeth
mark_clarke9@yahoo.com
There is a video on YouTube with a man peeling a pine from the inside. It has gone viral. When he was finished the skin was intact but the meat of the pine fell out. Never in my lifetime have I ever seen this level of lateral thinking.
We have become accustomed to people doing things one way for decades, but isn’t it time to start thinking out of the box.
When Dr Peter Phillips sought to introduce a tax on bank withdrawals, that was lateral thinking, but people rebelled and the Government backpedalled. Dr Phillips went back to the old-style methods of taxing the working poor and the people who had carried the bulk of taxes on our backs for decades with little or no growth.
The Opposition believes that what Shaw has effectively done is reverse the system and now the whole nation will be taxed to pay for the break to PAYE employees. They preferred the reverse, where we bore the brunt of taxation and the burden of paying for the bulk of services the nation enjoyed. It couldn’t last; sacrifices, wage freezes and constant devaluation of the Jamaican dollar with not a shred of growth.
President Obama on his visit to Jamaica said, “The best way for a country to reduce debt is to grow the economy really fast.” Not continue austerity policies.
Dr Phillips was at the same Caribbean Policy Research Institute (CaPRI) and World Bank seminar, as was Audley Shaw, on Mauritius’s success in growing her economy for decades at five per cent.
Even though with a bit of a shaky start, Shaw has sought to mix austerity and stimulus. Dr Phillips was a disciple of austerity. When would the economy be ready for stimulus? Never under his leadership.
Shaw needs to go further, but he too is afraid of the dark and lateral thinking. He needs to cut the tax rate and he will get higher revenues; lower import duties, which will reduce the cost of food and other items; and equalise personal and corporate taxes. This will unleash the potential for growth, instead of worrying about oil prices which we cannot stop from increasing.
While we are at it, we should keep Venezuela in our prayers; many of us would be bankrupt years ago without their oil bailout. A friend in need is a friend indeed and not a friend to be avoided as we seem to be doing.
Mark Clarke
Siloah PO, St Elizabeth
mark_clarke9@yahoo.com