It is conservatively estimated that SVG has been losing over $500 million annually in tax and customs duty exemptions to Mustique, Canouan and Taiwan since 2001. Something is seriously wrong in our country.
The opportunity cost of the $500 million in revenue losses annually to our beloved country is catastrophic. The $500 million annually could have been used to build factories, a fish canning plant, new hospitals, a science university and much more, all of which together would have created wealth for our country and thousands of jobs for our people.
A mother of two children residing in Kingstown told the Leader of SVG Green Party, Warrant Officer Ivan O’Neal BSc (Hons), MSc, MBA, that neither she nor her husband can find a job. The consequence of this is that she can no longer send her children to school.
Her situation is so desperate that she is forced to beg for food to take home for the two children. She is very concerned that her children may be suffering from malnutrition, because they only get one small meal a day. The mother said that the situation in SVG is rough and unbearable.
How can it be in 2023 that children are going hungry?
An envoy from the World Health Organisation should urgently visit SVG for on-site assessment of the pain and suffering our people must endure. In addition to malnutrition, we have so many people forced to sleep on the pavements of Kingstown, yet the ULP and NDP immorally give tax exemptions to the rich.
Gonsalves must be confused when it comes to finance: there is no benefit of these tax exemptions, but the costs . Malnutrition, children dropping out of school, mass unemployment and the disadvantaged forced to sleep on pavements – are nothing but oppression.
Leader of SVG Green Party, Warrant Officer Ivan O’Neal BSc (Hons), MSc, MBA, believes that SVG is going through its most difficult financial and economic period in our history. So many businesses say sales are low.
Unemployment is high and the poor are suffering, yet Mustique, Canouan and Taiwan continue to receive tax and customs exemptions. This Apartheid tax policy is a serious threat to the wellbeing of our people and the stability of our country.
Abolishing the tax and customs duty exemptions to Mustique, Canouan and Taiwan will bring the SVG Treasury over $500 million dollars every year in revenue. The opportunity cost of not collecting this $500 million dollars is staggering.
We could build three science and technology universities, create mass employment, put a science lab in every school, provide free wireless internet to every house and positively change the academic landscape of our beloved country, by making high quality education the engine of the SVG economy.
We urgently need economic growth, but Gonsalves has shown he is utterly hopeless in stimulating economic growth in SVG. The ULP regime does not have the vision and academic ability to abolish the tax and customs duty exemptions given to Mustique, Canouan and Taiwan and create prosperity for our people.
The views expressed are not those of Asberth News Network
