Apr 28, 2017 Source
The people of Guyana should be grateful to the government. What for? Two reasons. The tax threshold has increased, benefitting the working people. So the low income folks would have more take-home pay. Secondly, VAT has been reduced to 14 percent. Well if citizens ought to be grateful for these two swashbuckling acts of generosity, this columnist here is not one of them.
Many things in the last budget have militated against these two generosities. Many taxes have gone up; on the list is the price for vehicle road licences. It is VAT on electricity that is the big monster. My bill has gone up, but so have the things people sell who have to pay more for electricity. This is where the two generosities have been dissolved.
The government is lying to the nation if it says that it does not know that prices for almost everything have gone up. The thing is commonsensical – businesses that have to pay VAT on electricity are going to pass it on.
Here are just two examples of whopping price increases. One day two years ago, I had my dog in the car and there were many bags of sweet pastries on the front seat. The dog kept staring at those sweet cakes non-stop. So I pulled over, chose a box at random and fed her. It was Danish. There were four in the box and she had two of them. When we went home, she ate a third. It was then that I knew my dog loved Danish. For the past two years I have been buying Danish for her. There are four in the box, and it was being sold at $442 VAT inclusive. After the budget with VAT on electricity that box is now $692. Believe it. That is the new price.
My wife’s favourite cereal is Post. Post has a wide variety, one of which is with pecans. That type, we have been buying for years now. It was $995 a box. Since VAT on electricity it is now $1505. The explanation is simple. The retail trade has passed the 14% VAT on electricity to the customers.
I challenge anyone in this entire country to tell me they know about food prices in the supermarket more than I do. A simple telephone call to the four big supermarkets on Sheriff Street – DSL, Survival, Budget and Nirva – would reveal that I am in those places almost four times a week. All those workers know me. All the security personnel know me and my dog, because they normally keep an eye on her when I am shopping.
I can say in unambiguous language, almost all of the products I buy as an upper, working class man have gone up in price since the last budget. You take a large supermarket that we know on Sheriff Street and look at the type of operation it has, and you must know that its owner’s electricity bill would have swollen substantially because of VAT. They will not absorb that cost. It is the consumers that will carry the burden.
The average person out there has complained to me bitterly that the government gave with one hand and took back with the other in the last budget. My honest opinion is that it has. And how do I know this? Because I shop every day; and I mean every day. VAT on private tuition has further complicated life for the working families. Then UG has gone and raised fees. I do not think I have publicized my views consistently on these two measures.
I have participated in most of the picketing exercises against the parking meters, but I haven’t joined the demonstration against VAT on private tuition. I hope to do so soon. I did turn up at the picket outside the AFC office, but it was already finished. I did speak to the leader of the exercise to offer my support.
I cannot accept the increase in fees for UG students. I will always remember the generosity of Brian Rodway of the Working People’s Alliance. When I began UG, fees were required. I applied, got in, but found it difficult to raise the fee. Brian gave me half.
I was a student then a lecturer at UG. I know there are substantial numbers of students who were in my position when I first started UG. It is wide exaggeration to think all UG students can find that increase. There are many at UG that will be burdened. Where Guyana is heading I don’t know, but this I know – it is not easy being a poor citizen of this land.
