RICE AND PEAS; MACARONI PIE
VEGETABLE PASTA; GREEN BANANA COU COU
STEAMED YAM; BAKED CHICKEN
GRILLED SPARERIBS; FRIED KING FISH
GRILLED KING FISH; SALT FISH GRAVY
STEAMED FISH GRAVY; PORK STEW
STEAMED VEGETABLES; TOSSED SALAD
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Finance Minister Karen Nunez-Tesheira has taken ’offence’ to the description of the Property Tax bill as a revenue-raising measure. Challenging the assertions of Diego Martin MP West Dr Keith Rowley and members of the Opposition, Nunez-Tesheira said it was a tax rate reduction measure. The bills, entitled ’an Act to make Provision for the Assessment, Rating and Taxation of Land’ and ’an Act to amend the Valuation bill’, were passed at 8.50 last night by a vote of 22 for/10 against. The Opposition UNC voted against it … Rowley was not present when the vote was taken. Winding up the debate on the property tax in the House of Representatives, Nunez-Tesheira insisted that Government was dropping the rate of property tax across the country with the exception of the borough of Point Fortin. ’The issue is not the tax. We are bringing down the tax. The issue is that the valuations of properties have not been done (in accordance with the current law),’ she said. She said Government expected to collect $250 million from property taxes in this fiscal year, more $100 million more than what it would normally collect. ’So we are so busy scrambling for money that is why we are running to Parliament to get $100 million. … We would end up at $750 million (in revenue) in five years time as more and more properties come on the assessments roll,’ she said. But Nunez-Tesheira stressed the average homeowner would pay $81 a month under the new regime. She said across the board Government was bringing property tax down to a rate of three per cent. Currently the tax is pegged at 7 1/2 per cent of the value of property. However, she stressed, the valuations have not been kept up to date. Nunez-Tesheira accused the Opposition of ’fooling the national community’ and putting fear in the hearts of people about Government seizing their properties. ’But,’ she noted, ’this population knows that this is a caring Government’. ’This heartless Government spends $1.36 billion on senior citizen’s grants, $247.7 on disability grant, $1 billion on educational institutions,’ she satirised. ’The facts speak for themselves,’ she said, stressing that Government’s track record gave the lie to charges of heartlessness. ’They come here talking about ’axe the tax’. But they are a set of hypocrites,’ she thundered. She said one had to put a ’tablespoon of salt’ in whatever they say. On the issue of local government reform, Nunez-Tesheira said property taxes as a general rule are used for local government. But she said the issues of local government are not issues of resources. She said every regional corporation at the end of the year had ’unused balances’. She said in most countries local government bodies raise 25 per cent of their financial resources while 75 per cent comes from central government. (Trinidad Express) |
Gayle PERTH, Australia (CMC):
West Indies captain Chris Gayle has proclaimed new respect for his West Indies side on the strength of their competitive showing against Australia.
West Indies went down 0-2 in the three-match Test series against Australia but after strongly challenging - sometimes dominating in the second and third Test matches - against the highly rated Aussies, Gayle believes they have shed the weak and unattractive label they started the tour with.
West Indies had looked woefully outclassed when losing the first Test by an innings and 65 runs in Brisbane.
No pushover
The Caribbean side then rallied to lead Australia on first innings in the drawn second Test at Adelaide and after tearing the Australian batting apart for a second-innings 150 in the final Test at Perth, went within 36 runs of achieving an upset victory on Sunday.
“Despite the result, I think we regained a bit of respect,” said Gayle after losing the last match at the WACA.
“People look at us now and might look at us differently even though we lost the series 2-0. I definitely know that we gained respect from Australia and we showed them we weren’t going to be a pushover after the first game,” he added.
Gayle expressed disappointment that their resilient third-Test effort against the tough Aussies was not rewarded with a victory.
“… Looking back on this game a bit more application from our senior guys in the batting department and anything could have happened,” he said.
“We fought really well to come back in this Test match. Restricting Australia to 150 gave us a chance to actually win this game, but it didn’t happen. I’m just happy with the progress in this game, but it’s a disappointing series for us,” added the big Jamaican left-hander, who copped the Man-of-the-Series award with two superb hundreds.
After trailing by a massive 208 runs on first innings, West Indies had rebounded admirably late on day three in Perth through Dwayne Bravo (4-42) and Sulieman Benn (3-29) before fighting half-centuries from Narsingh Deonarine (82) and Brendan Nash (65) boosted their hopes of successfully chasing the target of 359.
“You always have to show that confidence in your players to get the job done regardless of the situation. They got off to a good start and were looking like getting set, but up against a good attack it was always going to be challenging and tough,” he said.
Currently ranked No.8 in Test-cricket ratings, which are headed by India, South Africa and Australia, respectively, West Indies are only ahead of Bangladesh on the rankings list but Gayle believes they have the platform to upgrade their standing in world cricket.
“It’s a rebuilding situation and there’s room for improvement. We can look at some simple things costing us in the game and if we can sort that out as soon as possible in Test cricket, we can start winning games,” he said. (Jamaica Gleaner)
Janet Silvera, Senior Gleaner WriterWESTERN BUREAU:
Facing stiff competition from a vibrant Mexico, while having to slash prices to fill their rooms, the island’s hoteliers are condemning any move by the People’s National Party (PNP) to stage further demonstrations during the fragile winter tourist season.
“Our history with this type of activity has invariably resulted in chaos and infrastructural damage to the country. Additionally, the PR nightmare that surrounds these protests are played out both locally and internationally, having a debilitating effect on the efforts of the country to sell itself as a safe haven for both Jamaicans and visitors,” said President of the Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association (JHTA), Wayne Cummings.
Security precautions
The JHTA head’s objection came on the heels of a warning by the United States Embassy alerting its citizens to take security precautions in relation to a march protesting tax increases by the People’s National Party Youth Organisation yesterday.
According to the JHTA area chair for the Montego Bay chapter, Richard Bourke, had there been any incidents during yesterday’s march, further and more serious warning would come from the embassy.
Cummings, in a release to the media on Monday, said his association very strongly disagreed with the call by the leadership of the PNP for demonstrations, reminding the opposition party of the already precarious state of the country’s economy.
However, the hospitality organisation was not about to let the Government off lightly, and in the same breath, reiterated its dissatisfaction with the tax package presented by Minister of Finance Audley Shaw last Thursday.
“We also call on the prime minister and the Government to constructively engage the Opposition and all other pertinent groups in arriving at a formula that is sensible to fill the gaping fiscal gaps, while recognising that it is people’s lives and survival that have to be contemplated,” said Cummings.
janet.silvera@gleanerjm.com
Edmond Campbell and Mark Beckford, Staff ReportersBITING CRITICISM of and widespread disgust with the Government’s latest tax package has forced the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) government into reverse gear as it changes course on measures deemed by many to be “oppressive”.
At the same time, the opposition People’s National Party (PNP) has planned peaceful protests for Wednesday at different locations across the country, as it calls on the Government to roll back the taxes.
Up to late last evening, Cabinet members were at Jamaica House working feverishly to revise the taxation package announced by Finance and Public Service Minister Audley Shaw last Thursday.
A government source told The Gleaner that some of the taxes, which triggered a public backlash, have been rolled back.
Up for review
Following a chorus of objection to the new taxes from various sectors of the economy, the opposition PNP and ordinary Jamaicans, Prime Minister Golding said on Sunday that his administration would review the new measures.
Earlier yesterday, the Government held meetings with members of the private sector and other interest groups to explore other proposals that could replace some of the new tax measures, set to take effect on January 1, 2010.
Yesterday, Opposition Leader Portia Simpson Miller made a formal request to Prime Minister Bruce Golding to delay the implementation of the tax package.
In a letter to Golding, the opposition leader asked that Parliament be given the opportunity to consider and debate any revised proposals before they were introduced.
“I am making these requests in light of my strongly held position that Parliament is the appropriate forum for consideration and approval of all taxation measures,” Simpson Miller outlined in her letter.
Simpson Miller had signalled that the PNP would take to the streets in peaceful protests against the measures.
General Secretary of the PNP, Peter Bunting, met yesterday with acting Commissioner of Police Owen Ellington to discuss the parameters for staging a peaceful protest.
In an interview on Radio Jamaica yesterday, Bunting said the party requested permission to stage peaceful protests on Wednesday in at least six major towns.
Placards
He said the nature of the demonstrations would involve the bearing of placards.
Meanwhile, at least three groups representing working-class Jamaicans want the Government to seek alternative tax measures instead of going after everyday items.
Dunstan Whittingham, president of the Jamaica Vendors, Higglers and Markets Association, said the new taxes would send consumption down.
“What we think is that it cuts the spending power of the Jamaican people. People will have to be cutting back on items, things that they drink and eat.”
He is calling on the administration to examine alternative areas, such as increasing taxes on government bonds.
Whittingham also wants a higher rate of taxes on appliances, which use a higher voltage of electricity, such as flat-screen televisions and refrigerators.
Whittingham said the recent increase in the income-tax threshold from $320,000 to $441,000 would mean nothing, as the tax increases would eat into the disposable income of the working class.
Glendon Harris, president of the Jamaica Agricultural Society, said the new tax measures announced would affect the agricultural sector in several ways.
Harris said the sector would have to deal with higher production costs and reduced consumption.
He said this would reverse gains made by the ‘Eat Jamaican, Buy Jamaican’ campaign, as foreign produce would be cheaper.
“This is going to hamper all the forward steps that we have made and throw agriculture back into the dungeon. This will increase production costs. Farmers now cannot afford chicken feed, fish feed and pig feed. How can you absorb these costs so quickly?” he questioned.
Harris also said the new taxes would hit the Agricultural Business Information System (ABIS) programme developed by the Rural Agricultural Development Authority to provide information on crops, livestock, markets and stakeholders to support the business of agriculture.
He said farmers had been suspicious that ABIS was a mechanism to get information on them to drag them into the tax net, and now it would be hard to get them to register. Harris wants the Government to tax more affluent members of the society, as well as luxury items.
Gary Harriott, general secretary of the Jamaica Council of Churches, said that the Government should look at spreading the tax burden around.
“Generally speaking, we are sensitive to the economic challenges the society is facing, but we felt the tax package was too burdensome for the people,” he said.
Harriott welcomed the Government’s announcement that it would reconsider the tax package and hopes it enters into dialogue with the Opposition and other sectors of the society to find a solution.
PNP plans protests in the following areas between 8 a.m. and 1 p.m.:
Region 1 - St Ann’s Bay
Region 2 - Highgate Square
Region 3 - Cross Roads
Region 4 - Caymanas Crossing with Mandela Highway
Region 5 - Mandeville town centre
Region 6 - Sam Sharpe Square
(Jamaica Gleaner)
GENERAL SECRETARY of the Barbados Workers’ Union (BWU), Sir Roy Trotman, wants Government to take action on a recommendation for an increase in the minimum wage for shop assistants.
Five years since the last minimum wage for shop assistants was last set at $200 a week, Sir Roy said this could no longer be considered “a fair or a decent wage”.
“We need to have as a matter of urgency the Government recognise that there is a recommendation from a tripartite body already on minimum wage for shop assistants,” he said.
That recommendation is for a minimum wage of $300 in 2010, increasing to $315 in 2011.
During a Press conference yesterday at Solidarity House in which he gave his outlook for 2010, Sir Roy said: “I feel that if you have a job, the job should be one that sustains you as an individual; that keeps us in a position where we are above starvation level.”
And he added that while mimimum wage earners had to face increases in electricity, water and fuel rates, $200 a week represented less than $150 in real spending.
“I am suggesting that as we recognise the need to cater to those who are most vulnerable, we must accept that after five years there has to be a rapid reconsideration.”
Sir Roy said the BWU’s thrust in 2010 would be training and reorganising workers to position them for a return to market buoyancy.
“We feel that businesses must be ready to respond to that demand,” he said.
“There has to be an understanding of the need for a swifter, more efficient, better skilled, better trained, more productive, more customer-friendly business.”
The BWU general secretary stressed that it had to start with the business people and filter down through the ranks of the workers.
(GC) (Nation News)
DIGGING OUT: some members of the West Indian community in Brooklyn trying to clear the sidewalk in front of their homes after last weekend’s monster snow storm. (Picture by Lennox Devonish.)
WASHINGTON - Airlines were scrambling to accommodate passengers affected by the cancellation of hundreds of flights after a monster weekend winter storm that blanketed a swath of the East Coast.
In addition to refunds a spokesman for Delta Air Lines said the company was providing a weather waiver that allowed passengers to reschedule without a penalty if they were scheduled to travel before Christmas.
“We’re doing everything we can to accommodate customers to get them to their holiday destinations,” said Paul Skrbec, a Delta spokesman.
American Airlines said it would add extra flights, use bigger planes where possible and reflow passengers to other flights.
Passengers who were affected can switch flights with no change fees through Thursday, said spokesman Charley Wilson.
Continental Airlines said though flights were extremely full because of the holidays, it was working on a “case-by-case basis” to ensure passengers got home for the holidays.
Passengers can also either get a refund or change their flights for free at Continental’s website or through the 800 number, said spokeswoman Mary Clark.
Record depths of snow blanketed some areas Sunday, including 23 inches in Bethesda, Maryland, and 24 inches in Medford, New Jersey. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, received 23.2 inches - its second-highest snowfall ever in a single event.
East Coast travellers faced treacherous roads, and flight delays and cancellations on Sunday. Dulles and Reagan National airports in Washington saw snowfall of 18 inches and 16.4 inches, respectively - the highest one-day totals ever for December.
At New York’s LaGuardia Airport, some passengers were resigned to their fate.(CNN)
FLASHBACK: A guard ensuring the media were kept out of the Alexandra School compound during the industrial dispute. (Picture: Shaka Mayers.)
THE BARBADOS WORKERS’ UNION (BWU) is rallying with other trade unions to bring closure to the dispute between the principal of Alexandra School, Jeff Broomes, and the Barbados Secondary Teachers Union (BSTU).
General secretary of the BWU, Sir Roy Trotman, will lead the “mediation exercise” by the Congress of Trade Unions and Staff Associations (CTUSAB).
He announced at a Press conference yesterday that the BSTU, representatives of the Ministry of Education and leadership of the Barbados Association of Principals of Secondary Schools would meet with the management of Alexandra School before the next school term starts on January 5.
Sir Roy reported that he had met with CTUSAB general secretary Dennis Depeiza during the past week to discuss the dispute which has been ongoing since 2006.
He pointed out the matter had escalated last week, because of what he termed “unfortunate statements made in the Press”.
And he observed, while all concerned appeared “very keen” on having the matter resolved, it seemed as if there were “old wounds that need to be healed”.
“We in the Congress of Trade Unions and Staff Associations will be able to make people understand that if we do not heal that matter at the Alexandra School then the school will not start back on the basis of normalcy,” he said.
Sir Roy warned that students of the school would be the victims of the failure to resolve the dispute, and he appealed to “all the protagonists” to respond to the union’s urgings to hold a meeting.
“Christmas cannot be that important that we would deny ourselves the opportunity to build a better Barbados and create a basis for positive behaviour in the north of the island,” the senior trade unionist said. “Christmas must not stand in the way.”
It was his view that “from the management down, they are all union people, and it ought not to be difficult for brothers and sisters to reason together”. (GC) (Nation News)
