No Comfort At All

Recently there was news that the guvament was looking to increase the GCT by a further 4.5%, of course there was the expected outcry against such an unconscionable idea at this time.

Things seemed to have calmed down a bit  and the guvament seems to have backed off that idea (may just have done so that Vaz would be re-elected), but now they plan to get their tax  by attacking “junk food”.

A high-calorie food that is low in nutritional value.

That narrows it down some, doesn’t it?

KFC, Burger King, Tastee’s, Wendy’s, Juici Patties, Island Grill, (got hungry listing those), are of course the obvious targets. What with their infamously greasy fare (I do so love fries), definitely, these bastards have to go!

Buuuut…

Hol’ on deh…

That definition also applies to cookies, chips, pastry, sodas, drinks, candy and numerous other unhealthy items that stock our supermarkets.

The last little bits of ‘comfort’ we have remaining.

But…

Hol’ on again..

Jerk pork, jerk chicken, ackee and saltfish, oxtail, and curry goat, some foods we eat here, that are often served swimming in oil. Not healthy for you, definitely high-calorie, definitely bad for you.

So will they be taxed too?

No comfort left.

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If so, when the already unbearably high cost of these items jump by an increase in tax, does the guvament have plans to assist the large number of people who will lose their jobs?

And trust me, their will be job cuts. Cuts, after the price on these items gets so high that we as a people will just stop buying from the fast food places and from supermarkets and anywhere these super-taxed items are sold, leading to less money spent in these places, resulting in a “restructuring” of the organization.

i.e. Job cuts.

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I get it now, the more people depending on handouts the more they can control them, so the more taxes, the less spending, the job losses, all lead to the need for assistance, and who will be there to rescue you?

Saint Bruce, the anointed…the fassy!

What is Wrong with Them?

The global financial meltdown affects many Jamaicans negatively, from job loss to hiring freezes, many Jamaicans are  unable to afford the already high cost of living.

This cost of living is further compounded by the slide in the value of the now pretty worthless Jamaican dollar. Admit it, a $100 bill seems almost like nothing now, like is a dollar, which is almost there, and according to slang on the street, aptly named a”dollar”.

The dollar has slipped from its relatively stable position at J$71 to US$1 to now almost  J$90 to US$1. This impacts EVERYTHING in Jamaica. The cost of food, the cost of electricity, (it being dependent on the US Dollar value per barrel),  which then propagates to the cost of food yet again, and high electric bills, which we are told will jump by 10% this month.

So faced with ever increasing cost of living with stagnant, and woefully inadequate personal income, how does the guvament now want to help the economy?

By screwing the people even more with an increase in GCT.

They are actually contemplating adding a further 4.5% to make total GCT 21%.

The GCT on phone calls will probably be what? 30%?

GCT, which is already too high, should have never been more than 12%, and now they guvament want to cut we belly a little more to take a larger quantity of our severely limited purchasing power away from us.

This after they took $500,000,000 of our tax money and give it to dem friends earlier last year under some scheme to reduce the cost of goods to the public.

That never materialized as the cost of goods still went up, making the whole thing a transfer of funds from the people of the country to the JLPs friends.

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Insult to injury: they are adamant they will never take a pay cut, while they cut our throats even more.

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Perhaps they could get rid of income tax then the GCT could go to 25%, after all, most of our salary goes into buying things. but at least we get to direct it where we want to.

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During the campaign, the refrain was “JOBS, JOBS AND MORE JOBS!”, however, rather than jobs being added, jobs are being cut all over, and the only thing increasing is the cost of living, and if the guvament have their way: TAX TAX AND MORE TAX!