In the time of Jesus, there was even more reasons to object to taxation since taxes were levied by the occupying Romans. That is why tax collectors were reviled and Jesus’ association with them brought him into disrepute with some people.

Monarchs taxed whatever was produced, imported or exported. Later on, taxation of land became possible once property rights on land were settled.

Income taxation was introduced in England in fits and started since the 19th century and was not institutionalised until the early 20th century, when, including company tax, it became the main form of taxation. Soon taxes on expenditure — sales taxes, purchase taxes, and Value Added Tax (VAT) were introduced. Governments today therefore have various methods of taxation. Citizens usually have two big concerns with taxes. The first is: are they fair and equitable? Generally, taxes are considered fair and equitable if those who should pay do pay; and if those who can afford to pay more are made to bear a greater burden than those who are less able.

The second concern is: am I getting benefit from paying my fair share of taxes? Tax revenues are spent on public goods and services — roads, airports, schools, hospitals, police, fire services, etc, which each of us consumes to varying degrees.

In addition, some of our taxes are redistributed to those members of our society who are less able to care for themselves. What vexes citizens, and rightly so, is the wastage of public money, or corruption, which puts public money illegally into private hands.

In Trinidad and Tobago, while there was legislation providing for land taxes in the 19th century, the Land and Building Taxes Ordinance was initially legislated in 1920 and operated until 2009. Port of Spain and San Fernando had separate property tax schemes until 2009.

The basis of land and buildings taxes since 1920 has always been the “annual rental value” and remains so under the new Property Tax Act. Annual rental value seems odd where the property is owner- occupied and is not or has never been rented. But even where a house does not generate income, in cash through rental, it does produce a “notional income” for the owners and occupants. This notional income is measured by the estimated rental value and is assumed to bear some relation to the value of the property. Wealthier people in better houses will therefore pay a higher property tax than persons in less well-off neighbourhoods. This is fair. Finally, there is no provision in our laws for tax revenues from particular sources to be earmarked for particular uses. All revenue goes to the Consolidated Fund and, except for Tobago, it is at the discretion of Central Government when and how much goes back to local government. The principle of subsidiarity suggests that where the local authorities are fully competent, property taxes collected in local areas should be retained in and managed by the local authorities for the benefit of residents. However, even this principle would need to take account of disparities in living standards in different parts of the country, which the Central Government should try to correct over time through redistribution.

Payment of taxes is a social responsibility and even if we do not like Caesar, we should render to Caesar what is due to him.

According to police reports, at about 9 pm, Sayad Ahmed, 33 of Arena Road in Freeport was crossing the highway from north to south near the walkover when he struck by a Ford Ranger. Ahmed died at the scene .

The driver told police he got out of his vehicle and tried to assist Ahmed. A DMO pronounced Ahmed dead .

The driver gave a statement to police .

In light of this latest road fatality, head of Northern Division Snr Supt Mc Donald James is appealing to pedestrians to use the walkovers for their own safety .

Tunapuna police are continuing investigations .

I still haven’t seen anything like it up to now,” she gushed.

“I had never felt that I needed to be part of something so badly.” With the path of her dreams much clearer, Abdool knew that upon her return to Trinidad, she would have some serious work to do. “I joined Crazy Catholic/ DC Shell Theatre and was part of the cast of Rapunzel. It was the first time I did more than just singing on stage.” And she loved it, so she continued to involve herself more and more deeply in the local theatre fraternity. Abdool understudied actress Tova Miller for the role of Maria in the Sound of Music excerpts in First Instinct Productions’ Encore: Live from Broadway concert in 2013.

Her involvement, as well as the mentorship she received while shadowing Miller in the production, gave Abdool a more profound understanding of the craft of musical theatre and the combination of skills that she would need to hone in order to get to where she needed to be.

“I learned from Raymond Choo Kong and other people who had been in the industry for some time that it is more than just about pretending to be a character, that it was about becoming the character,” she admitted, describing it as “one of those pivotal moments.” “I realised what a challenge it all was, especially coming into it so late and not really knowing how to dance properly or to act.” But alongside navigating the learning curve of the musical theatre world, Abdool had some additional learning of her own – of an academic nature. Seeing how much progress there was to be made in her musical theatre work, she admitted that fear set in. “I went into Form Six and did environmental sciences, but while studying for CAPE, I was distracted, researching schools in London that offered musical theatre. I always knew what I really wanted, so I told myself to just get through it.” Abdool passed her exams with flying colours, and by then, the call of the stage was even louder now, booming over the pressure to pursue something a little more “practical.” She decided to apply to the schools she had been researching. With the audition dates just months away, Abdool resolved to take a gap year in order to throw herself into all she needed to learn in that short space of time.

She studied voice at the Vanessa Briggs Academy and began taking drama and dance classes at Noble Douglas and Lilliput Children’s Theatre. “I did ballet and modern for the first time ever. I knew that the auditions were in six months and that I would have to cram 18 years of work into that time, not knowing technique or anything, only knowing that I had to do it anyway.” Half a year of rigorous training later, Abdool found herself in London for her big moment. “When I got to the audition, I saw that there were people there who were just as or even more talented than I was.” But she didn’t allow the intimidation to prevent her from giving her best.

“It was one of those moments where I had to tell myself that if I wanted this, I would have to keep fighting; I gave everything that I possibly could.” Abdool recalled “scary” hourand- half-long dance screenings, as well as the dauntingknowledge that only 800 students would be selected out of the initial 1,700.

Three callbacks and a final assessment round later, Abdool was told she had been accepted into the Mountfield Academy of the Arts.

The audition, she said, “was the hardest thing I’d ever had to do in my life; I have no idea how I got through it. I had come from so far and all the work that I had put in was just enough to get me this far.” Abdool has dreams of being in the West End, where only the very best take the stage to give award-winning performances.

“It would be such an amazing experience to get into the field and work, to be part of productions.

“I want to expand the industry locally but also to come back and help other people who might have the same dream as I do, to let them know that is it possible and that there are things that they can do.” She warned those who are interested in serious performance to arm themselves against doubt and suggestions against following their dreams.

“Many people asked me, ‘Why can’t you stick to something practical?’ But there are so many people who want to do this and feel like they can.” Many of those who trained for the rigours of the stage often find themselves put out of a job by producers who select TV and film stars to play stage roles in order to boost box-office earnings. “I think that the industry is a fickle one,” Abdool commented.

“It’s sad that we have to face these challenges, but I hope that our training will propel us to get the roles that we deserve.” With an increasing number of roles for people of colour it’s also an exciting time for actors who don’t look like the “standard” to get work. “We are looking at diversity in our casts; the harder we try, the more we bring people that are different to the table, and so people who you mightn’t think to see in the roles will be the ones who will get them.” She admitted, “Being a mixed girl, [not getting cast] was a worry of mine, but you have to believe that you will get your breakthrough.” To successfully make her way to Mountfield Academy of the Arts in September, Abdool is hosting To Dream a Dream, a concert of inspirational songs to be held on June 18 at the Bishop Anstey High School Auditorium at 6 p.m. Abdool will share the stage with vocalist Vanessa Briggs and Kerry Ann Duncan, pianist D’Andre Wilson, dancer Shel-Marie Narine, hop-hop artiste Shiselon, spoken-word artists Ashlee Burnett and Darren Narine, as well as the Bishop Anstey High School Choir, directed by Lorraine Granderson, and others.BY Selwyn D Joseph Jr

Certainly, this is a challenge for a young bright articulate attorney to flex his or her muscles voluntarily and do some challenging research into the authorities which would properly inform opinion.

I make the following observations: (a) Are the proceedings of courts (magisterial or high) not being recorded by verbatim reporters? Should this be the case, cannot any magistrate worth his or her salt read these transcripts and form an opinion, thus obviating the need for the humbug and the cost of restarting? If not, why is this not so? Indeed, here lies yet another constraint on the administration of justice.

(b) Is this not yet another reason for abolishing repetitious preliminary hearings? As I have said before, the matter of the administration of justice is of concern to all citizens and ought not to be confined to, and left to the domain of, legal practitioners alone, as seems to be the case at present. Let us all join in the debate.

ERROL OC CUPID Trincity

For instance, if you pay $8 (instead of $6.80) for US$1 but it allows your business to close a lucrative deal, then that extra cost of doing business is well worth it. If you give an “incentive” to a doctor to prescribe your company’s drugs (instead of the competitors’), and he/she does, then that “incentive” is written off as the cost of doing business.

Pharmaceutical companies provide good examples. Many have paid hefty fines for various reasons.

For instance, in 2012 GlaxoSmith- Kline paid US$3 billion for offences including off-label promotion (promoting a drug for unapproved uses), failure to disclose safety data, paying kickbacks to physicians and making false and misleading statements about the safety of Avandia (diabetes drug).

Other companies paying onetime billion dollar fines include Pfizer (2009, US$2.3B), Johnson & Johnson (2013, US$2.2B), Abbott (2012, US$1.5B), and Eli Lilly (2009, US$1.4B). All these companies and others, like Merck, Norvatis and AstraZeneca, are repeat offenders. Repeat offenders? Clearly, to them, these fines are merely “the cost of doing business,” a small price to pay for the massive profits they make.

So when the Permanent Secretary (PS) in the Ministry of Sport proffered to the Public Administration and Appropriations Committee of Parliament that the $92,000 spent by her ministry for the Tobago weekend jaunt was “the cost of doing business,” I expected her to tell us about the million-dollar benefits we could expect from the money spent. She didn’t say and no one on the committee bothered to ask.

So I’m asking the PS to tell us what “business” they were doing and what was our expected return on investment.

She could also provide some clarity on the following. We hear that $10,000 was spent on the rental of four vehicles for three days, for a one-day (actually, two hours) function. That works out to over $800 a vehicle per day. What kind of vehicles did they rent? I’ve never spent more than $300 on any car rental in Tobago, and the car carried five people and two golf bags. Then, again, I’m neither a minister nor an assistant nor an adviser and I pay the rental from my own pocket (I don’t have an expense account “without a ceiling,” like the PS), so I try to get value for money.

In her defence, though, the PS did say she believed they got value for money. (Yes, and I believe the West Indies would have won the ICC Champions Trophy easily if only the team had qualified.) Given that the stay at the Magdalena Grand included buffet breakfast and all-you-can-eat lunch and dinner, how much time did they have between meals to drive around in these expensive vehicles? When did the “series of meetings and site visits” take place? Apart from a visit to the Dwight Yorke Stadium which, from all reports, few members of the delegation attended, what business did the delegation conduct? More importantly, can the PS tell us how did these “costs” of doing business redound to the benefit of taxpayers?

NOEL KALICHARAN via email

Government should never be a burden to its citizens.

No government should impose a traffic fine that is more than the fine for possession of arms and ammunition. No citizen should be so burdened by taxes that it stifles one’s ability to support one’s family.

Almost every political party in governance over the years seems to lose touch with the population shortly after being elected to serve. Ministers of government believe they no longer have to account to the people and blatantly refuse to answer pertinent questions with arrogance. Rather than showing empathy for citizens, they bold-facedly make excuses for incompetence and indifference to human suffering.

Projects to improve our infrastructure, reduce traffic congestion, enhance agriculture, increase tourism, restructure our healthcare and education are shelved for short-term projects geared towards repaying party supporters.

No longer are politicians concerned about simple things like improving our water distribution system, local government restructuring, structured police patrols, regulating squatting on public and private lands or ensuring that our justice system is elevated to a place where citizens can once again trust our courts to effectively and efficiently deal with conflict resolution.

Perhaps governance blinds those in office to the realities on the ground. The people are saying: We are willing to pay property tax but not the complex structure that is being proposed.

Simply increasing the old taxes by a percentage in keeping with changes in the economy, like a 1,000 percent increase on the old taxes, is a better and less costly structure that is proposed. The proposed new traffic fines are punitive rather than fair.

Local government reform is long overdue. Legislation to reduce the case load in courts, introduce plea bargaining, reform the prison system and set up special courts to deal with violence and gun-related offences are long overdue.

The Ministry of Works and Infrastructure’s failure to deliver, the Tobago ferry service, the state of our roads, the lack of attention to buildings like the Red House, Whitehall and President’s House all point to incompetence. Mass transit is a serious requirement to reduce traffic congestion, not a political football.

WASA must be able to deliver a better water supply and restore roads with immediate effect or be restructured in partnership with the private sector. Tourism, agriculture and sports are areas where the Government can earn foreign exchange and provide employment for the many graduates that continue to join our workforce. It’s time to reduce the reliance on Government for sustenance and replace the initiatives with creating avenues for self-development and business growth. This requires partnership with the business community.

It’s time to listen to the people again. The nation cannot wait for election after election to change government and hope that in office someone will hear the cries of the people.

STEVE ALVAREZ via email

Ghany said that while Prime Minister Theresa May’s stature had been weakened by her party’s loss of seats, the key point was that her government remains in power.

“If Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn was forming a coalition government then there would be a lot to talk about,” said Ghany.

“But as of now there is no change in the government of the UK.” Given that May had called the election ahead of time to try to build her numbers in Westminster ahead of her Brexit negotiations with the European Union, had her loss of seats now destabilised her government and the whole picture of Brexit? Ghany opined no. He said if May had been forced to resign this might have been the case, but as it is, she had got the Queen’s permission to form a minority government, and is also getting interim stability from the DUP.

Nonetheless, Ghany said there exists a very real possibility that May would face a leadership challenge this summer, even as her failed personal gamble to try to win more seats had led some of her party’s sitting MPs to lose their seats.

Mulling all possible factors that may have influenced the vote, including recent terrorist attacks in Manchester and London, Ghany said, “There is a lot going on, and a lot to ‘unpack.’” A key issue was how the result would affect May’s negotiation of Brexit with the EU.

Ghany said, “It’s a tricky political situation.

A reduced parliamentary majority for the Conservative Party means that the party’s Eurosceptics are more influential.” In contrast, he also said the DUP in Northern Ireland could push May’s government towards a “softer Brexit,” such as having a softer border with the Republic of Ireland.

Ghany said the election reflected many parallel narratives such as immigration, security and terrorism, and the left/right dialogue.

After their victories, both took time to praise the overall winners for their tremendous efforts in what has become one of the region’s top triathlon events on the calendar.

Ross defended her national title in the Olympic distance in two hours, 32 minutes and 49 seconds (2:32:49) after finishing fourth overall among the women.

Venezuela’s Genesis Ruiz won the category.

The Olympic distance requires athletes to swim 1.5km, ride 40km and run 10km.

Costelloe, competing in the same distance, won the national men’s title after finishing sixth overall in 2:21:13. Barbados’ Jason Wilson placed first.

On retaining the national title, Ross said, “(I feel) ecstatic. I believe last year was a bit of a jewel in the rough that I won Rainbow Cup (overall women’s title), so this year I am happy to just claim back the (national) championship.” Ross congratulated Ruiz for winning the overall title, saying she was unbeatable on the day.

“She was on fire, wow, I saw her and she was just in her zone, and when you get a person in a zone there is no stopping them. Congratulations to her.” Ross said the conditions were fair but it was somewhat challenging.

“The race conditions were actually pretty good.

The water was a bit bumpy, but not too bad. The bike is always a rolling hilly course which is always tough on any of the athletes.

By the time you get on that run, it is either scorching or extremely scorching.” Costelloe commended Wilson for his achievement and described him as a phenomenal athlete.

“He is the first triathlete I believe from the Caribbean to qualify for the Olympics in the sport of triathlon. He is a professional athlete and that just goes to show the difference between an amateur like myself and a professional athlete.

It clearly showed today, he was well in front of me. Congratulations to Jason on winning the triathlon.” Despite not winning the overall and men’s title, Costelloe was satisfied on taking the local crown.

“It feels great once again. Last year I came second, so this year I got back first place so it is a great feeling once again,” he said

The legalisation of one specific age of consent to marry automatically leads to the age of consent to access sexual and reproductive health and literature (access to contraception, abortion, contraceptive literature/ pornography etc) without parental consent.

The success of this mandate and the potential for disharmony among our religious bodies, as a result, can become a precedent for the rule of law superseding religious freedom.

The defining truths of pro-life, pro-marriage and pro-family based on religious freedom may then be challenged in a court of law.

Therefore the leaders of this wonderful multireligious, multicultural country where every creed and race find an equal place need to think long and hard about the long-term consequences, and not only the immediate, of major decisions of this nature.

Provisions should be made for different ages, while also considering the dignity and respect of women. We must allow for freedom of choice.

It may also be food for thought that in many decades gone by, (before tertiary level education) many young men and women were married before the age of 18 by choice, as they were considered mature enough to raise a family.

Do they no longer exist, or is there some other agenda at work here?

TONIA LEACOCK via email

Speaking to reporters before the launch of the constituency’s Food For All God’s Own at Helping Hands Recreation Ground, St Augustine, Ramadhar noted the debate about promoting agriculture as a major income earner has been a decades-old one that must again be revisited with some urgency.

“This was a debate in the country about transforming the economy to having different streams of income and there has been some stop and start efforts in the past,” he said.

“But now and in the recent past where we saw the reduction in our income from oil and gas, the reality must strike and it is said that nothing happens without a necessity and I think we are reaching the point where we can no longer take for granted oil and gas bailing us out. “That is why I made the point that it is about leadership and I don’t mean political leadership alone but in every community to take responsibility for our own and, hopefully, by this effort and the efforts of many others that we change our attitude to agriculture.” Saying that methods of agricultural production have evolved, Ramadhar called for a change in attitude toward the field.

“Agriculture is not the old way of an old fella in the mud in the weather. It takes some of that but agriculture has in other countries been a form of meaningful wealth creation,” he said.

“There are very wealthy farmers even in this country quietly.

And there are many billionaires in foreign countries who went into agriculture. We need to change the work ethic so that we will not believe that it is demeaning to get your hands dirty.” Saying he was shocked by the exorbitant prices for avocados and mangoes, Ramadhar urged communities to grow their own food.

“We have donated plants here today because the ministry (agriculture) had bought a million-plus plants and I encourage all communities to access the Ministry of Agriculture at a subsidised prices so that we will not have to endure avocados at $50 for one or a bag of mangoes at $50 because God gave us everything that we need and the future of this country really resides in the earth itself.” Asked about the impact of rising food prices amidst a foreign exchange shortage, the former legal affairs minister said: “I think it is a reality that we must accept but in accepting the reality of imported food prices always going up – because we have seen the effective devaluation of our dollar – I always believe that a country is never really independent unless it could feed itself.” “This is really about ensuring that we become a little bit more self-sufficient and not relying on imported foods as we have in the past. We cannot afford it. And even if we could, it is a good thing that we become self-sufficient in food.” Ramadhar called for strong leadership in developing agriculture into a profitable commodity.

Regarding the Food For All God’s Own initiative, Ramadhar lamented that many people were “actually going hungry or afraid of going hungry.” “Therefore, we took an initiative with the help of the community in St Augustine to plant fruit trees in public spaces,” he said, expressing hope that the programme will be replicated in other communities.