“Stupid” Taxation

The guvament downplays the impact their taxation will have on the cost of living, it is going to be very bad, but that is not the worst of it.

The thing that will have the most negative impact on the future of this country is the taxes on computers and books. These items were not cheap to begin with, as they were subject to the vagaries of the exchange rate, but to go and further tax these items is truly wicked.

Only a set of battymen would tax books!

Keeping the people dumb, stupid and uneducated, the JLP continues their war against intelligence.

Suuure you will say they freed up education, but it was poorly implemented, the teachers are still being underpaid, with foreign teaching positions being comparatively attractive. Remember when the PNP of the ‘70s wanted free education the JLP killed it when they got in guvament in the ‘80s and then promoted the Solidarity pushcart shit.

Now, clearly from IMF directives, they have taxed books and computers. But they make the distinction that schoolbooks and religious books are tax exempt. As I said to keep us stupid, to make it difficult for people to get their hands on books not approved by the guvament or the church, and therefore less likely to read books that expand our minds.

Keep us stupid to not realize when we get screwed, and not want to rise up in protest, so they can blurt out such shit as, “The Jamaican people are now more politically mature”.

Right.

Now the guvament is telling us that they are in discussions with the IMF to lay the groundwork for future borrowing.

LIES!

The IMF already directed them to do their bidding, why do you think the new taxes are as they are?

Perception

Ok, Bruce did his job. Good.

As the minister of defense he would have committed political suicide if he wasn’t as up front in the hijacking as he was, what with the budget due to be read in parliament.

So for leading from the front, good job.

Vaz on the other hand, in his capacity as information minister was very disappointing, sounding very much like the english-challenged lout i believe him to be. When asked questions about the matter his difficulty in getting the information across was embarrassing.

However, I am sure that many thought he did a good job, and that is up to them.

BUT!

Neither of these two men were anywhere in the ‘field of fire’, and at no time was in any danger. So to call them ‘Heroes’ is quite a stretch.

The Observer will do anything to prop up the guvament’s image especially when they delivering more and more hardship on people.

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Bruce spoke to the nation ahead of Audley budget speech, to calm nerves and reason with the people about the further hardships they face.

Good.

Some credit his talk to the nation as a reason why there were no riots, others in the media credits a Jamaican populace with being more politically mature.

Maybe.

The ever-increasing courseness of Jamaicans seemed to have let this opportunity slide.

Good for them.

However, the last time that a Jamaican guvament tried to impose a gas tax and the people rioted, afterwards there was whispers everywhere that the riots were instigated by the then opposition, to disrupt the guvament’s plans for the country.

How true that is depends on which side of the fence you fall. If you are a PNP supporter then it is absolutely true. If you are a JLP supporter then it’s all lies. If you are sensible smaddy, you wouldn’t put any underhanded dutty scheming past either of the two parties.

Of course another take would be that PNP supporters are less violent than JLP supporters.

But what I beleive the real reason  for the calm reaction to the budget is that we as a people have taken too many hits lately that we have been cowed into a near submissive mass.

We dread losing the little work we have because time hard so we wait on others to say something.

The high murder rate, has us keeping our heads down so as not to get it shot off. Besides we don’t want anybody to see we a protest , that may cost us our jobs or our lives or both.

We realize where acting up  may lead to no job, no money to pay bills or to eat food.

The guvaments of Jamaica are nearly successful in eroding our free will.

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As of this writing the guvament has yet to give the full details on the newly taxable items, maybe they using the weekend to give themselves and us some breathing room.

Or they still making it up.

Maybe they feel that spreading it out would ease the shock. It probably has, but one could start to get the feeling that they don’t know what they are doing  and are merely stretching things out to make it seem substantial.

The PSOJ is in love with Audley’s budget, how it’s fair and is necessary and good for this country. Maybe, but none of them has asked about the real impact it will have on the ever-growing ranks of the poor. Questions like:

What effect will the tax on gasolene have on the cost of food, which will also welcome new members into the group of products affected by GCT?

How will this affect the Jamaican worker whose pay has been frozen and therefore means that their spending power is significantly reduced.

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There are actually some who believe that teachers, in demanding their back-pay, are unreasonable in these hard economic times.

Let me tell you what is unreasonable, doing your work for an agreed amount, only to be shorted for a very long period of time, to now see taxation and cost of living flying up, to have been promised what is due to you, and now be told yuh can’t get it.

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Nex’ Time.

“Ol’ Pirates, Yes They Rob I…More…”

ENOUGH!

What is wrong with Bruce and Audley? Why the hell are they wanting to add further taxation on the people of this country?

When they have their way, (no if bout it), gasoline, electricity and water will suck more out of the people in the form of a sick mentality that allows the guvament to further tax us so.

Transportation costs are already near a breaking point, so imagine more taxes on it, not only will getting from place to place be more expensive, but everything that depends on the transportation of goods will go up in price too. Food that we can barely afford now is going up again, which sets every other thing going up in costs too.

Electricity is already a sinful burden on the backs of Jamaicans, further taxing it is also going to contribute to a further increase in the cost of food and every aspect of modern life in this country.

And adding a further tax on water is the insult to injury.

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These sneaky bitches have just jim-screechy their GCT increase on people.

The cost of living will get so out of hand that there will be many starving, probably homeless people, (they just evict a bag a people offa land what dem did capture).

Dem a go mek me start bawl like Portia.

Our pay is going nowhere, each dollar we earn is able to buy less and less, we can barely afford to light the house and run a fan on hot days, we  are now thinking that we going to work one day less a week to avoid the transportation costs, and what does Bruce and Audley do?

They want to tax the last bit of dignity out of us.

Sure you may say I am just being hysterical. Maybe I am, but you can barely afford KFC now, so what a go happen when the tax from light, gas and water add on pon it, AND then Bruce go tax it again because it’s ‘junk food’?

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It’s amazing that no one sees that people who can’t afford much won’t be able to pay the extra. So food and clothes and all the other little things that made us comfy in life, we will just stop buying. When we start going to the stores less and less, buying less and less, the stores, upon seeing their income fall, will start laying off workers.

More laid off workers means less income tax being paid into the system, less taxes going into the system means the guvament will be less able to afford their programs, which means….

MORE RASS TAX INCREASES!

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I hope I am safely in mi yard when the shit hit the fan and the frustrations of the people boil over into the streets, I hope you are too.

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!