Dear Editor,
Do you recall in April of 2008 when then Minister of Finance, Audley Shaw, announced the tax amnesty? Senator Don Wehby, who was part of the ministry at the time, indicated that it would not be repeated.
Since then we have seen a Transport Authority vehicle amnesty and more recently Dr Phillips' traffic ticket amnesty. There have been a myriad of amnesties before and there will still be others.
In 2005, then Minister of Finance Dr Omar Davies announced the ludicrous Transfer Tax amnesty. I wonder how many Government ministers immediately benefited? It indicates to me that if I wait long enough, I can get out of paying just about any penalty, or even the tax itself. I don't ever hear in the aftermath of these amnesties that the Government has increased or changed anything. What then is the real incentive for making use of these amnesties?
One thing I am sure of is that any pragmatic Jamaican who has seen his property taxes jump by more that 100% in the last month and heard that land value will increase by year-end is simply waiting on the property tax amnesty to 'land'. I don't believe the Government is in the habit of selling land to pay taxes and that must certainly make non-compliance easy. Without a doubt, if you cannot find the owner of the land, you can find the land, making this one of the easiest taxes to enforce.
The Minister should know that it is very unlikely that the land will up and walk off. If the doctor is serious about revenue collection, he must ensure compliance by enforcement. Non-compliance is an ill that needs to be cured ... not forgiven.
Robert Howell
roberthowelljm@yahoo.com
Government must enforce the law
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Do you recall in April of 2008 when then Minister of Finance, Audley Shaw, announced the tax amnesty? Senator Don Wehby, who was part of the ministry at the time, indicated that it would not be repeated.
Since then we have seen a Transport Authority vehicle amnesty and more recently Dr Phillips' traffic ticket amnesty. There have been a myriad of amnesties before and there will still be others.
In 2005, then Minister of Finance Dr Omar Davies announced the ludicrous Transfer Tax amnesty. I wonder how many Government ministers immediately benefited? It indicates to me that if I wait long enough, I can get out of paying just about any penalty, or even the tax itself. I don't ever hear in the aftermath of these amnesties that the Government has increased or changed anything. What then is the real incentive for making use of these amnesties?
One thing I am sure of is that any pragmatic Jamaican who has seen his property taxes jump by more that 100% in the last month and heard that land value will increase by year-end is simply waiting on the property tax amnesty to 'land'. I don't believe the Government is in the habit of selling land to pay taxes and that must certainly make non-compliance easy. Without a doubt, if you cannot find the owner of the land, you can find the land, making this one of the easiest taxes to enforce.
The Minister should know that it is very unlikely that the land will up and walk off. If the doctor is serious about revenue collection, he must ensure compliance by enforcement. Non-compliance is an ill that needs to be cured ... not forgiven.
Robert Howell
roberthowelljm@yahoo.com
Government must enforce the law
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