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Taxes 'with a smile'...and more!
Taxes 'with a smile'
JEAN LOWRIE-CHIN
Monday, April 27, 2009
"I pay a lot of taxes, but I pay it with a smile." A statement like this would cause consternation in Jamaica where for too many years, too few have been carrying the tax burden for too many. This happy taxpayer is Norwegian marketing executive Svein Wara who informed me that the Norwegian counterpart of our GCT, the VAT (Value Added Tax) is 25 per cent, and that those in the higher income bracket pay 30 to 35 per cent in income tax.
JEAN LOWRIE-CHIN
So why would he be smiling? In Norway, health care is virtually free, with only a small contribution, even in the case of serious conditions that require expensive treatments. Education up to 10th grade is absolutely free and after that, tuition continues to be free up to the tertiary level, though students are required to pay for their books.
Crime is so low in Norway that in a large area called Lofoten, there are only two unarmed policemen at the station during the week and four on weekends. People leave their doors open and it is a given that no one will steal their belongings.
"Norway was a poor country until the 60s when we discovered oil," remarks Svein. "It was then that we had a social revolution, a programme to protect our natural resources for the common good of the people. We are a social democracy."
A worker at the Ellingsen Seafood AS salmon farm in the cold north, near Lofoten, Norway. (Photo: Hubie Chin)
Up to the 60s, Norway had a working-class society with only a few very rich individuals, many of them shipping magnates. There were also cases of people with hidden fortunes who would evade taxes. Now the tax system is so open that you can look up any Norwegian worker and see their salary and tax status. "I'm on the web - you can look me up!" says Svein as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
Tough traffic and gun laws are testimony of the high value that this country puts on human life. The allowable amount of liquor in a driver's system is .02/1000 or less than the equivalent in one beer. A first offender for drunk driving pays a heavy fine of about $400,000 upwards, depending on income, spends a mandatory 21 days in jail and has his driver's licence suspended for two years. If you are proved to be driving drunk a second time, it's farewell forever to the steering wheel, plus the same fine and sentence as the first time.
The ordinary citizen may only own a gun for sport/target shooting as a longtime member of a gun club, or for hunting. Applicants for hunting guns must first attend a course and sit a very difficult examination before they are granted a licence. For hunting, you may own only one gun of each calibre and you must have a safe if you own three. Once you are a gun club member with a handgun, you must have a safe.
"The police are not armed," says Svein. "Guns are kept in the station and in some cases, locked in a box in the police vehicle. The officer may only open the box and remove the gun if he receives permission from the commissioner of police."
Svein is from Northern Norway where his grandparents were left homeless in October 1944 after Hitler's army burned all the homes and plundered their territory. "There they were, two months before the harsh winter and all they had was a hammer, two screwdrivers, tongs, a sheep and a cow."
Svein said they joined with their neighbours to pull down a wooden fence put up by the Germans and used it as building material, cutting squares of earth to insulate the walls. His family lived in that tiny 100 square-foot home for seven years until 1951, when they received assistance from the government to build a proper house.
We sailed out to the fishing areas where we saw a lone fisherman in the freezing cold pulling in his catch. At another location - Henningsvaer - we met Andreas Ellingsen who with his brother and two cousins are second-generation entrepreneurs in salmon, running farms and a factory that moves out 50 tons per day of fresh Atlantic salmon.
A wealthy Alf Kenneth Johansen explained that his grandfather started the stockfish business in 1923, and he had been involved from childhood. This dried unsalted fish, prepared in a centuries-old way, is seen on drying racks throughout the Lofoten area hanging outdoors for the three early months of the year, the only time that maturing fish can be safe from flies. Picture these fishermen cleaning their catch and hanging it out to dry in the bitter cold - such is the way of life of these people.
A good look at this demanding lifestyle gives one a new appreciation for our warm Jamaica, where we need only to toss a mango seed on damp soil to have fruit for life.
The most touching experience happened when unfortunately, a member of our press group Everald Harrow, ace TVJ cameraman, slipped and broke a bone in his knee. We took him to the local hospital where within an hour he was seen, x-rayed and casted by a reassuring doctor. The next day I accompanied him to the Bodo General Hospital for consultation with a specialist. At every step of the way, doctors were courteous, one apologising for keeping us "waiting" for 20 minutes!
After he was checked in, I asked how we could reach him and the nurse give us a direct number explaining that while he did not have a phone beside him, they would immediately take a cordless phone to him when we called. "Everybody has been so nice to me," said Everald. "I am very comfortable." I should point out that we were the only people of colour being served at both hospitals.
Even in this global recession, Svein Wara says that because of strict governance the Norwegian banks and the employment rate of about 97 per cent, have not been seriously affected. He is quick to point out, however, that "like any other country Norway has its challenges and problems, but we are working to overcome them".
No doubt, Jamaicans have a hard road ahead as we try to pay down our debts, accumulated over many years under different political administrations. By resolving to make the sacrifices while protecting the most vulnerable, we can help our government to build a stable economy, so that one day we too may be able to smile when we pay our taxes.
lowriechin@aim.com
www.lowrie-chin.blogspot.com
JEAN LOWRIE-CHIN
Monday, April 27, 2009
"I pay a lot of taxes, but I pay it with a smile." A statement like this would cause consternation in Jamaica where for too many years, too few have been carrying the tax burden for too many. This happy taxpayer is Norwegian marketing executive Svein Wara who informed me that the Norwegian counterpart of our GCT, the VAT (Value Added Tax) is 25 per cent, and that those in the higher income bracket pay 30 to 35 per cent in income tax.
JEAN LOWRIE-CHIN
So why would he be smiling? In Norway, health care is virtually free, with only a small contribution, even in the case of serious conditions that require expensive treatments. Education up to 10th grade is absolutely free and after that, tuition continues to be free up to the tertiary level, though students are required to pay for their books.
Crime is so low in Norway that in a large area called Lofoten, there are only two unarmed policemen at the station during the week and four on weekends. People leave their doors open and it is a given that no one will steal their belongings.
"Norway was a poor country until the 60s when we discovered oil," remarks Svein. "It was then that we had a social revolution, a programme to protect our natural resources for the common good of the people. We are a social democracy."
A worker at the Ellingsen Seafood AS salmon farm in the cold north, near Lofoten, Norway. (Photo: Hubie Chin)
Up to the 60s, Norway had a working-class society with only a few very rich individuals, many of them shipping magnates. There were also cases of people with hidden fortunes who would evade taxes. Now the tax system is so open that you can look up any Norwegian worker and see their salary and tax status. "I'm on the web - you can look me up!" says Svein as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
Tough traffic and gun laws are testimony of the high value that this country puts on human life. The allowable amount of liquor in a driver's system is .02/1000 or less than the equivalent in one beer. A first offender for drunk driving pays a heavy fine of about $400,000 upwards, depending on income, spends a mandatory 21 days in jail and has his driver's licence suspended for two years. If you are proved to be driving drunk a second time, it's farewell forever to the steering wheel, plus the same fine and sentence as the first time.
The ordinary citizen may only own a gun for sport/target shooting as a longtime member of a gun club, or for hunting. Applicants for hunting guns must first attend a course and sit a very difficult examination before they are granted a licence. For hunting, you may own only one gun of each calibre and you must have a safe if you own three. Once you are a gun club member with a handgun, you must have a safe.
"The police are not armed," says Svein. "Guns are kept in the station and in some cases, locked in a box in the police vehicle. The officer may only open the box and remove the gun if he receives permission from the commissioner of police."
Svein is from Northern Norway where his grandparents were left homeless in October 1944 after Hitler's army burned all the homes and plundered their territory. "There they were, two months before the harsh winter and all they had was a hammer, two screwdrivers, tongs, a sheep and a cow."
Svein said they joined with their neighbours to pull down a wooden fence put up by the Germans and used it as building material, cutting squares of earth to insulate the walls. His family lived in that tiny 100 square-foot home for seven years until 1951, when they received assistance from the government to build a proper house.
We sailed out to the fishing areas where we saw a lone fisherman in the freezing cold pulling in his catch. At another location - Henningsvaer - we met Andreas Ellingsen who with his brother and two cousins are second-generation entrepreneurs in salmon, running farms and a factory that moves out 50 tons per day of fresh Atlantic salmon.
A wealthy Alf Kenneth Johansen explained that his grandfather started the stockfish business in 1923, and he had been involved from childhood. This dried unsalted fish, prepared in a centuries-old way, is seen on drying racks throughout the Lofoten area hanging outdoors for the three early months of the year, the only time that maturing fish can be safe from flies. Picture these fishermen cleaning their catch and hanging it out to dry in the bitter cold - such is the way of life of these people.
A good look at this demanding lifestyle gives one a new appreciation for our warm Jamaica, where we need only to toss a mango seed on damp soil to have fruit for life.
The most touching experience happened when unfortunately, a member of our press group Everald Harrow, ace TVJ cameraman, slipped and broke a bone in his knee. We took him to the local hospital where within an hour he was seen, x-rayed and casted by a reassuring doctor. The next day I accompanied him to the Bodo General Hospital for consultation with a specialist. At every step of the way, doctors were courteous, one apologising for keeping us "waiting" for 20 minutes!
After he was checked in, I asked how we could reach him and the nurse give us a direct number explaining that while he did not have a phone beside him, they would immediately take a cordless phone to him when we called. "Everybody has been so nice to me," said Everald. "I am very comfortable." I should point out that we were the only people of colour being served at both hospitals.
Even in this global recession, Svein Wara says that because of strict governance the Norwegian banks and the employment rate of about 97 per cent, have not been seriously affected. He is quick to point out, however, that "like any other country Norway has its challenges and problems, but we are working to overcome them".
No doubt, Jamaicans have a hard road ahead as we try to pay down our debts, accumulated over many years under different political administrations. By resolving to make the sacrifices while protecting the most vulnerable, we can help our government to build a stable economy, so that one day we too may be able to smile when we pay our taxes.
lowriechin@aim.com
www.lowrie-chin.blogspot.com
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