I don't know. Honestly, I don't.

Before anyone accuses me of not putting forward alternatives to address our fiscal situation, let me preface by saying that I do not have to. Very qualified, successful, respected people have put forward multiple solid, sustainable proposals that have seemingly fallen on the cement-laden ears of successive governments. Workable alternatives already exist.

I won’t spend any time discussing the credibility of the People’s National Party. I am not even going to talk about the dizzying arrogance of the Prime Minister and her (oversized) Cabinet. I am overlooking the tales of members of the Cabinet revelling and enjoying sweet sweet mas in Port of Spain—no doubt on their own dime—while the entire country sat in the dark about our economic situation. And there will be no mention of the fact that as we barrelled towards economic uncertainty, one member of the People’s National Party, decided to engage two social media platforms in a conversation about homosexuality, his Bible and the all important Tommy Lee. I asked him about the declining value of the Jamaican dollar and he is yet to respond.

I do not propose to be an analyst. I do not propose to be an advocate. Right now, I am a Jamaican. A young Jamaican who for decades to come will be straddled with the after-effects of the absolute nonsense happening now. I am not on a quest to examine which party or person is at fault or who is right or wrong. I just want some clarity on a few things.

The current Government of Jamaica (GOJ) presented an initial tax package that was true to the promised ‘bitter medicine’ we were expecting. Now, the GOJ has announced an additional tax package making the revenue target $40b. Emily Crooks says this is the largest tax package ever.

Errrmmm????? The GOJ cannot even run a tax amnesty properly. If they are having so many issues in reaching current revenue targets… what is in that coffee at Jamaica House that has them thinking they can hit a higher target? Is the GOJ cutting spending somewhere? Smaller government? That wasn’t included in the documents Peter Phillips tabled in Parliament—which surprised the entire nation—or the historic joint national broadcast with the Prime Minister, so… I don’t know.

I got a copy of the tax measures (and yes, the GOJ repeatedly mentioned that it is “committed to broadening the tax base and ensuring revenue adequacy”) and included in the GCT measures are inclusion of the Telephone Calls Tax (TCT) as part of the GCT base. This is expected to yield $1.3-billion and would “be included in the taxable base for the purpose of calculating the GCT”.

WHAT. DOES. THIS. MEAN? When Bruce Golding and Audley Shaw taxed tampons and salt, they just came out and said what the tax package meant. Although most of those measures never saw the light of day, the administration of the day said to us ‘this is what we want to do’. What are you going to be adding GCT to exactly? Who is going to pay it? What even gave you this idea in the first place? I don’t know.

The GOJ is proposing to add GCT to all fees and taxes that are payable at the ports. ALL FEES including the environmental levy, customs user fee/custom administration fee, CET, and ASD.

EL-OH-EL!

The GOJ is proposing to fix an ‘administrative anomaly’ by adding GCT to the face value of prepaid vouchers and airtime. The argument is that consumers pay the full cost including GCT for each card they buy, however, when service providers sell the vouchers and airtime in wholesale volumes it is sold at a discounted cost and the GCT is only paid on that discounted cost. Since retailers may or may not be registered taxpayers, the GOJ argues, the full GCT is not remitted to the coffers. The GOJ says the measure “SHOULD NOT” (and the emphasis is not mine) result in an additional tax liability to the consumer. This is going to yield a staggering 0.2-billion.

Wow. I don’t know how the country continued to run with this HUGE loophole in the system! Just wow. My mind has been blown. The GOJ has already deflected any blame for possible price increases to the consumer, since consumers already pay for the full cost of the GCT. But… ahm, if (and probably when) it costs more for these non-registered retailers to buy the phone cards, what do you think they will do? Absorb it like the good, loving, selfless citizens they are? I don’t know.

The GOJ wants to increase education tax by 0.5% for employers and 0.25% for employees and impose an additional 5% tax on “large unregulated companies”.

More taxes from declining (in value) salaries coupled with creative corporate taxes. At the very least, I would like to be a fly on the wall in the meeting when the GOJ needs corporate support for anything. JCDC naw do nuttin’ mo’ fi di res a year? Lisa naah kip no gala dis year? No? I don’t know.

The GOJ is introducing a new fee at the ports, a Customs Administration Fee. This “will supplant the current CUF (customs user fee) and other processing fees … which would represent a more accurate reflection of the services being offered by Jamaica Customs Department”.

Is this the CUF, only new and improved? The fee will be imposed on all imports except for those by approved charitable organisations and the bauxite sector so I would like to know what exactly it is covering that is so fiscally burdensome on Customs. The government says this is in keeping with WTO (World Trade Organisation) guidelines. Countries sign international agreements that have to result in new taxes? And even so, are we only just now realizing we made this commitment? Does Peter Phillips believe we are morons? I don’t know.

The GOJ claims it is proposing to initiate measures to increase the relatively low property tax compliance rate, reform the property tax regime, introduce “transfer pricing rules” as well as “thin capitalization rules”.

The government failed miserably at a traffic ticket amnesty. The government wants to implement all these changes in a few months, some even a few weeks. The government, failed miserably, at a traffic ticket amnesty. In the GOJ’s defence, they could have been preparing to do this for quite some time and are equipped to tackle it. Did Peter speak about the capacity of the GOJ to implement these changes?  What happens if these measures don’t yield the expected results? Is this the PNP's idea of tax reform? I don’t know.

Is Jamaica House still open?

This is the most we have heard from the Prime Minister and the Minister of Finance about the economy since... well, just since. Now I understand that Sister P is busy ‘working, working, working’— but seriously? What exactly does the Prime Minister do? I ask with no disrespect. I ask only because I do not know. The Office of the Prime Minister has a communications unit. The Prime Minister has a press secretary. The nation’s Ministry of Information is HOUSED at the Office of the Prime Minister, yet still I get the sense that very little is happening at Jamaica House. The weekly cabinet press briefing, occasional long photo captions from various ceremonies and ‘PM says to band together’ style press releases are not cutting it. The PM's few public utterances do not offer much hope either, as they are usually characterized by political bickering. Has she convinced herself she is in a dancehall clash? If you are a minister without portfolio with responsibility for a specific area… isn’t that a portfolio? Will the OPM ever stop SCREAMING in their social media updates? I don’t know.

If you have any answers feel free to let me know. I’m sure many people would like to know the answers too, as we “band together" and face the challenges we must. It's exceedingly difficult, however, to support a government that continues to be less than forthcoming with the Jamaican people and hellbent on doing whatever it wants to do anyway.

PS – Don't Parliamentarians ‘walk out’ of Parliament too often? Does the move of protest still have significance? I don’t know

Twitter: @brandonallwood

Rules & 'Discipline': The broader debate

I read with great interest a recent editorial addressing the issue of children being turned away from schools because of infringements on the dress code. I couldn’t help but shake my head and sigh in dismay at the position taken by the editorial.

The editorial stated that students who refuse “to conform to their school's dress code are giving a pretty good indication of the kind of citizens they are likely to become.” This claim transcended mere commentary and made a sweeping indictment on the character of all students who choose to wear tighter pants and shorter skirts.

That’s right. Those girls who aren’t wearing skirts at the right level and boys who are wearing tighter pants than permitted will likely become undesirables in the society. Yes, they’re nothing but pieces of gum on the heel of society’s shoe. 

As a young Jamaican I am most offended by that statement, as it completely ignores important issues that ought to be featured in this discussion. 

We must ask ourselves if some of these rules are still relevant and if they actually foster the kind of discipline Jamaicans need to thrive in a world with rapidly changing social norms and attitudes.

Some adults argue that this generation of students is lawless, because in their time, these same rules were enforced and respected. Jamaican schools produced the all-perfect crop of adults who have shaped the peaceful, immaculate country we live in with balanced budgets and a booming economy. Let’s not pretend that there is a perfect, or even a remotely close to perfect, society that young Jamaican's are getting ready to derail. 

Let’s face it—many school rules are archaic and irrelevant. The same editorial admitted some were “left over from our colonial past.” 

Administrators would have us believe that uniforms create an atmosphere of equality. This puerile argument ostensibly justifies enforcing conformity. Sorry to say, but this claim isn’t true. It betrays the naiveté of some administrators who are unaware of the social dynamics of young people. What do we think is in some of the barrels that swarm our ports year round? What do we think some of the ‘back-to-school’ remittances are being used for? Parents innately want the best for their children and for some that means brand name companions for the dull khaki pants and blue tunics. And there are also those students who save year round to be able to get what they want. 

Students gladly revel in sportsmanship to see which of them are wearing the most expensive shoes or sporting the best looking backpack. The idea that brand name envy is in any way eliminated by uniforms is weak; just ask the sixth formers wearing Lacoste white shirts. 

Where is the voice of the Guidance Counselors Association of Jamaica in this debate? The fate of our students cannot be decided with emotion and dogma. We need to take a critical look at why students flout dress codes. Instead of writing them off as a speck on the windshield of our perfect society, we must engage students as their guardians, not dictators. It cannot be that we, as a nation, have accepted that these young men and women are simply unruly. Given that each child is an individual, we must examine whether it is sensible to foster discipline through enforced uniformity. Where is the consideration that these children are fighting to express themselves? 

 

I believe that teachers and administrators could use the time spent policing conformity to do something more constructive. Surely there are better ways to engage uncooperative students than embarrassing them in front of their peers and suspending them from school. Here we have the potential to stimulate needed dialogue about social attitudes and personal responsibility being wasted. Instead of taking a holistic approach to discipline, we punish disobedient students with brutal force in hopes of curbing behaviours we arbitrarily decided were inappropriate. 

The editorial points out another important issue. We need to consider the generation gap between school administrators and students and the role it plays in the testy exchanges that are frequently reported. Students and administrators have two separate views of the world and how one should live. This is most evident when we consider notions of respectability and preoccupations with self-presentation. 

Our generation is less bothered with the long-held view that appearance is somehow linked to intelligence. I think that has a lot to do with the remarkable progress we have been making to ensure every child has access to secondary education—regardless of where you get your mail. But it also has to do with rapidly changing social norms. Our children are less prepared for the world because intransigent administrators are trying to recreate and impose the social norms of decades past.  

A middle ground has to be met because we cannot continue sending dissident students home in droves. While children need boundaries, there is no need to condemn and stigmatize the choices these children make. We must recognize their agency and their right to self-expression. Negotiations will not proceed productively if supposedly all-perfect administrators are pitted against what the editorial suggests are the future miscreants of our country. Mature, all-rounded debate is needed, however that might be hard to get since reprimanding students and holding sacred post-colonial ideals are easier to do. 

Link to the editorial: http://mobile.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20120908/cleisure/cleisure1.php

Mr PM, where’s your adventurous side?

MI HAFFI DID WRITE DAH BLOG HERE IN RESPONSE TO THIS ARTICLE. HAFFI!

‘Be more adventurous, PM urges youth’. (http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/Be-more-adventurous--PM-urges-youth_9310326)

The piece, which was attributed to the Jamaica Information Service, had me almost in stiches!

In the article, Mr Golding is said to be appealing to young Jamaicans to do everything possible to keep hope alive amongst ourselves. It was there that I realised that the Prime Minister must be living in a blissful alternate universe.

As a young Jamaican, I can say without fear of contradiction, that my generation is doing its best to keep hope alive – but we do so in a seemingly never-ending cycle filled with gargoyle guardians of the past pointing us away from opportunities and into despair.

At 21, I can proudly say I own and run my own company and can further say that the Government has no interest in helping my business grow. In fact, I once called the Ministry of Industry and Commerce to find out about small business loans, and when it was revealed that my firm is a marketing and public relations firm and not a business to do with manufacturing or agriculture – I was swiftly referred to a raft of credit unions and told that the Ministry does not deal with “small businesses like that”.

The fact of the matter is unless you can offer this government some sort of trophy success story for the skills centres or the field of agriculture or manufacturing; you are of no interest to them. Unless you’re leaning towards becoming a farmer, dressmaker or carpenter – forget about any meaningful assistance from them in your entrepreneurial pursuits. I am certainly not bashing these professions, however people – and young people are no different – must work in fields (no pun intended) that suit them, and manufacturing and agriculture is not for everyone.

Commercial Banks only need to see your age on identification, before they tell you to come back in a few years. Meanwhile, they shell out big bucks for bankrupt hotel projects that end up in receivership. You can have the most solid business plan and fantastic ideas, the loans officers will advise you to come back with your ideas when you’re a little more “seasoned in age”.

The reality of the situation is, Mr Golding, ‘adventurous youth’ rarely get anywhere. Youth in general are stuck in limbo, holding the blade of a very sharp sword while the old guards of our professions and the gatekeepers of assistance continue to look at our AGE first and use that number to judge our ABILITIES.

Mr Golding, I urge you to urge your own ministries and more members of your own generation to be more adventurous and embrace the endless possibilities that lie within us young Jamaicans. Because, as resilient as we are as young people, we can’t keep the little hope we have alive for much longer.

Best regards,

Brandon ‘hands sliced from holding the blade’ Allwood

Jamaica, lovely Jamaica

I had the great pleasure of needing a Tax Compliance Certificate for my company, as we needed to get a duty waiver on equipment that Machel Montano used to perform at the LIME All-Island Carnival J’ouvert. Follow me on this interesting journey through Jamaica’s lovely administration.

The Waiver
Thanks to the amazing Kim Marie Spence, Jamaica’s Film Commissioner at Jamaica Trade and Invest, I secured the necessary waiver for the equipment. Quick question – why is it that I need to pay duty/get a waiver on equipment that will in no way, shape, or form be left in Jamaica? Now you would think with the waiver all I would need was some ID, maybe my company documents and head to customs when the party arrives. Right? WRONG. I need to spend more money, and hire a customs broker – the sole function of which seems to be to fill out forms.

The Tax Compliance Certificate
In order to be eligible for a waiver, you have to be tax compliant and get a TCC. No problem, right? WRONG. My brother and I have been running up and down for three days trying to get this coveted piece of paper. Let’s examine it.

Clearance letters from NHT and NIS? NHT was the easier of the two. Because my business partner is employed full-time, she has had to submit her last two pay slips to prove she has been contributing. OK – bad and not so bad. I mean, I see the sense in this.

Here’s where it starts to get interesting.

On the business incorporation, Angie is listed as Angella Byfield – her maiden name. At the time, she had no ID in her married name, Blair, so we were forced to use this. In 2011, 3 years later, she has ID in the name of Blair and the tax department has decreed that Angella Byfield and Angella Blair is not the same person and I must either re-incorporate my company or file a change of directors form to reflect her new name as a marriage certificate will not do. LOOOL. Clearly, this means that once you’re a woman and listed as a company director – you’re not allowed to get married, or God forbid use your married name.

Because I’m a full-time student (or attempting to be) at UTech, they also need to see my student identification. Now, UTech uses the student ID for N O T H I N G at all, so I have no clue where that is. Also that ID expires every year, (yay $1000 ID fee) and the people responsible for it are always at lunch or dealing with 60000000000 people before you. At first, there was no substitute for the ID… and then the supervisor – on my brother’s pleading – relented and said that the school’s acceptance letter would suffice.

(A little later we will talk about UTech and their antics)

Then, I need a reason why I need a TCC. UMMMM…. Isn’t a TCC like, something I’m entitled to? Even if I wanted to frame it or use it as a fan on the beach….. what difference does it make? Like really? Ohhh, I get it. In case I wanted to import some guns, right? Because the people who import illegal guns, they are certainly tax compliant, right? Ok, kool. GLAD to know we’re on par with this.

And everyone knows I could have paid someone some bribe $$ and it would be all over. But then, wouldn't you have heard that I'm a bad Jamaican? Right. I thought so.

At the end of the day, the Government of Jamaica doesn’t give a rats ass about young Jamaicans. Especially those who are trying to be/ forced to be independent. Of course, if you’re a 21 year-old cattle farmer from Westmoreland named Jasper – FRET NOT. There’s hope for you. Because Chris Tufton is looking out for you, with a bunch of loans to help you parcel land and buy feeding and machinery and stuff.

NEVER MIND the fact that we still import MOST of our food and meats. Yeah, look on the sticker the next time you pick up a broccoli bloom or some fish.

But me? The 21 year old Managing Director of a non-manufacturing company? LOL. I’m reminded here about the time I called the Ministry of Industry and Commerce to find out about Small Business loans and the person that answered referred me to MSB Credit Union.  There’s no help for me.

I have been a patriotic Jamaican forever. I refused to migrate when my family did, and at SEVENTEEN years old, I took a stance that I was going to help develop my little Island nation. I returned to Jamaica and have been trying very hard to remember the Coat of Arms that I brim with pride about. The National Anthem and Pledge that I recite so proudly, and that gives me chills whenever I say the words. I HAVE TRIED.

But what has my country done for me in the last couple years? Let’s examine a few things….

RAISED SCHOOL FEES – to the point where I’m now choosing between having health insurance and paying a school fee.

The Student’s Loan Bureau told me that if I wouldn’t get my loan renewed because I couldn’t make it to the ONE appointment date they had.

The University of Technology delisted me from school in the first semester of the 2010/2011 school year – and are insisting that I still pay the fees. Their Finance department, who told me I was not a student, was not eligible for class, would not be admitted to classes, and would not be able to sit exams during that semester – INSISTS on me paying for the semester of school that I WAS NOT ALLOWED TO ATTEND. The school has ALSO taken the money that I have paid for THIS semester (earned with sweat and blood) and applied to the semester in which I was delisted from. Oh yeah, after an ENTIRE semester of running around with the Administration department, the school calls me on HOLY THURSDAY (a couple days before exams) to ask me if I’m registered.

Judged me by my AGE and not my ABILITY -- I have been in communication for EIGHT years. EIGHT.  Of course, if I were a non-degree having 30-year old with EIGHT years of experience I would probably be in a cushy office. But, because I’m only 21 – with that kind of experience – I can’t even get an entry level job. That’s why I love the few forward thinkers in corporate Jamaica who have given me a chance and allowed me to prove myself, such as Jerome Hamilton, Carlette DeLeon, Patrice McHugh, Chris Hardy, Shelly-Ann Curran, Paula Pinnock-MacLeod, Kimberly Lawson and Tara Playfair-Scott. ß These people, along with my entertainment family have ensured I don’t wither away and die waiting on my age to catch up with my mind.

You know what the MOST hurtful part about this is? My parents told me that I would regret coming back to Jamaica. I laughed. Jamaica is MY country. MINE. That’s where I was born, and where my heart is. But it seems, until I get to the age of 35 – the country won’t love me back. So you know what, I’m leaving.
(BTW – I was about one month away from employing some FIVE people full time, i.e. NHT and NIS and PAYE contributing people).

I’ll get this TCC. I’ll finish the back-end processes for the waiver. I’ll go through the rudiments with you this ONE LAST TIME Jamaica. And then, I’m DONE.

Going to wind up my company here, and incorporate it in New York. Operate it from there, with Angella and Chieftin controlling it locally.

And then, I’m going to study. Not just for my law degree, but I’m going to study for my citizenship test. My American citizenship test. I’m going to learn the Star Spangled Banner, Uncle Sam trivia, the first amendment etc.

I’m sure I won’t feel the same goosebumps singing and saluting to their anthem… but as the woman at Student Loan told me… “such is life”.

I never once asked for a handout. Never once wanted a free ride. Just some guidance and some support.