Phillips whell and come again

[Plush]

The Tax package announced needs a lot of work. The Rich in society could have been made to pay so much more instead of increasing the tax burden on the poor which I think they did. It seems these guys don't think and look at what is happening around them....Scammers, druggist and others with ill gotten gains should be made to pay...Likewise the rich..Options for Philips

1) Go after Real Estate and tax heavier on luxury houses/apartments
2) Instead of a wide increase in Taxes on Licenses, etc, Focus on luxury items where you can double the current license fees
3) Improve tax compliance
4) Relook at income Tax and see if there is potential for higher earners to pay more
5) Increase court fees, fines etc. The Justice system should help pay for itself. Those $100 fines and the likes are useless..Court fines should be a minimum 5-10 thousand dollars..If you do the crime, pay the fine
6) Not sure how much money is made by the government on remittances but the likese of Western union shouldn’t be making all the money on fees here

Taxes I think should be reduced or removed:
1) GCT on basic food items should be either reduced to a low flat amount across all items (5-10%) or should be excluded from Food items such as patty that they are adding
2) GCT on electricity for small business is definitely to high. Roll back to 10%
3) Hotel sector taxes should stay in place..they make so much money and hardly pay labor anything
I don’t have the full list but I think these are items I would recommend be looked at. I heard Philips asking for people to come up with suggestions but I’m wondering who is coming up with suggestions for the poor. The Private sector, Hotel Industry, Taxi groups, etc all have their own agendas and are looking for their best interest….Who talks for the poor and is proposing alternatives…This is where Shaw can add a lot of value

[Assasin]

if you roll back the electricity and charge cruise passengers 1 dollar each then you could half the hotel tax. The hotel is crying more so because of the overall cost of added GCT on their food cost, GCT on their electric cost which the second or third major cost for most small and medium size hotels, plus the room tax and remember it was just a few months ago they put an additional 10 dollars on arrival tax.

Put that all in their expense and some hotel cost could go up by more than 20% or 30%. Nuff people just think them a make money but when them start closing we will see. Most small or meduim size hotel is not making very huge profits, not since the recession.

You have some good suggestion especially with the real estate tax. I say moving down GCT to 12% and put it on everything would be better. You can exempt purchase in small quantity or find a way to distribute it to the poor.

[Islandman]

Good post. Quite frankly I believe tax compliance is the big one to solve because if they raise property tax,etc but don't collect it we are nowhere.

But I am convinced that Phillips and company know all of this. Politicians are not as stupid as we sometimes tend to assume they are.

It is more a question of will.

[Muadib]

What are Taxes used for ?

Let start there then work back..

[Don1]

if you roll back the electricity and charge cruise passengers 1 dollar each then you could half the hotel tax.

Don't be silly. There are less than 2m trinket seeking cruisers/year each spending a few hours in Jamaica (those who choose to disembark) ...such a tax would generate chicken feed...no that's expensive...make that monkey money

The cruise industry is a dry hole...a sub optimal investment of public funds

[Assasin]

Do realise the amount of tax we choose to forgo from cruise and is a lot. If you just do your research you will know. How many small hotel room we have collecting 2 US dollars from??????

Before you start trying your little put down talks "don't be silly" as usual you need to think.

[Don1]

I need to think?? Don't be silly.

Your statement constituted total nonsense

What does "roll back the electricity" even mean??
A $1/cruiser tax would raise $1.2m. Is that supposed to supplant half the room tax as you claim?

When you make statements that are obviously ill considered and on top of that..false... kindly withdraw them or at least own up to the mistake when it is pointed out

[Skeng DX]

only residential customers electricity tax........less than 15% at that

[Reggaedoc]

Agree with you Plush.

[Willi]

I am not a big fan of asset taxes like real estate. Why treat them differently to share owners on the stock exchange? Rather we should look to tax CAPITAL gains and income, not try bankrupt people for having assets long ago paid for. Tax rate here should be modest.

If we want to catch the laotto scammers, just audit them and drop heavy fees for taxes not paid on fortunes they cant account for. 50% withholding tax upfront and let them claim back for any excess with proof of earnings and tax compliance.

Tax compliance is a good route, but tek too long under the crisis situation we find ourselves in.

I would look to exhaust all areas of SIN tax first, ie cigarettes, junk food, likkah, clubs and bar corporate tax, passport/service fees for overseas Jakans (raise the price but cut out the expensive red tape like buying Managers cheques in all kinda different currencies that go in the farrin bank pockets...this can raise the guvvament PPT fee income by an easy US $50 without even increasing the total cost to us ), etc, etc.

[Assasin]

do me a favor and go and read yesterday editoral in the observer and see what is been proposed. It is widely know in the tourism sector that the $2.00 which is not been been collected from cruise line passengers. There is not a whole lot of hotels that has less than 40 rooms in Jamaica.

You know I am talking about rolling back the GCT on electricity.

You know what let me stop argue with you because you can't talk to people without getting personal so I will excuse you. Everybody who don't share your opinion is either "silly" "Mad" or something else.

[Don1]

do me a favor and go and read yesterday editoral in the observer and see what is been proposed. It is widely know in the tourism sector that the $2.00 which is not been been collected from cruise line passengers. There is not a whole lot of hotels that has less than 40 rooms in Jamaica.

You know I am talking about rolling back the GCT on electricity.

You know what let me stop argue with you because you can't talk to people without getting personal so I will excuse you. Everybody who don't share your opinion is either "silly" "Mad" or something else.

What does "roll back" mean? Remove GCT entirely from the bill? It seems the threshold for exemption was increased...what is it you're proposing?
If you put something out there try to be clear what it is

Don't be silly... It's a mathematical certainty that $1.2m cannot supplant half the room tax... that's the point you need to acknowledge

I regret your thin skinned nature but fi mi style nah change ...hush

[Assasin]

not thin skin at all. It is just that you constantly do it and it becomes tiresome. Every thread by you end up calling somebody some silly name because they don't agree with you.

My mother use to tell me that don't change your opinion by people's rumour or ideology. Change it because of facts. So if you are trying to impress use facts and nothing else. It would be a sad day for me to agree with many of our opinion.

Rollback meaning going back to the 10% that is currently been charged. Do I have to spell that out?

[Don1]

Don't be silly...nuh Rum Bar dis name?

If yuh nuh like ow mi deal wid it...yuh nuh free fi ignore??

[Assasin]

we????


Directed at only you. Nobody else. Don't include nuh "we".