Details of everyday life

These are the details of everyday life in Trinidad and Tobago that should cause us far more concern than they appear to, particularly as the cash-strapped Government seeks to extract from its citizens a property tax.

Consider the front-page juxtaposition some days ago of the fate of five-month-old Kydan Pacheco and the Minister of Finance’s quip about the personal implications of introducing property tax.

People are living in dire circumstances, without access to running water or electricity in some cases; without access to a legitimate and reliable transport system to get to and from work or school. It would seem that not even public hospitals are guaranteed a reliable power supply.

Property tax is a valid mechanism for raising funds to facilitate the delivery of basic social services by State authorities that make modern living feasible. The question is not whether or not the tax regime should be introduced, but what will the revenue be spent on, and on whom.

It is the suggestion that the tax is being introduced now in order to make up a huge shortfall in government revenue that raises some concern.

The Government says times are tough and money needs to be found to close the $20 billion gap in financing.

Fair enough, but there seems to be no suggestion that having paid a higher percentage of one’s income into government coffers that the quality of our lives, or that of our less fortunate fellow citizens, will improve.

There is, or there ought to be, a positive correlation between higher taxation and a better standard of living for all citizens, including, for that matter, an improved sense of citizens security. What else would the Government need to collect additional revenue for? Is it that the Government needs more money to pay public servants’ salaries and we must therefore foot that bill? If that is the case, are we taxpayers expected to see an improvement in how public services work? Shouldn’t property tax revenue go to local government authorities for use in community infrastructure improvement, garbage collection, maintenance of water and sewerage facilities and the like? Frankly, we need an assurance from the Government that the underlying objectives of this revenue collection drive are not just geared towards initiatives that will keep the Government itself funded in the style to which it has become accustomed.

We welcome promises of public information campaigns to promote better understanding of how the tax collection will work. We expect, however, that included in the information provided would be details of the social compact between us and the Government that set out where the revenue will be used and how.

Without such a commitment from the Government we could allow ourselves to feel cheated, to begin to believe that the Government could be investing our money in targeted strategies geared towards keeping itself in power rather than funding agreed upon public needs.