I find the way that the new ECO tax structure has been introduced blatantly unfair and verging on the sadistic. I own a computer dealership and I have been driven to the situation were on the 3rd January I was afraid to open my retail outlet in the morning as I may end up selling items below my cost price. Doing business in this God forsaken Island has become a virtual minefield. You have to be careful you don’t forget to pay your VAT on time, your NI, your PT, and now your ECO tax. Make one mistake and you’re history. Furthermore every effort is being made by the authorities to ensure that potential customers are driven away from our retail outlets because of strict parking regulations and cameras in every street corner. The argument that this new tax only affects only importers is plain rubbish. In the computer business for example, we are all importers as well as retailers. With the rampant competition we face on a day to day basis you either import your own products or you cannot survive. As for myself I am a member of the council of the GRTU and have a better chance than most to have first hand information. What about all the other players in this field? How can the government really expect everyone to know what prices to change on the first day of the business year? How we all are expected to open our shops for business as usual? And where does the opposition stand on all this? Have we really reached a stage that both our government and our opposition are so devoid of ideas to collect taxes? I distinctly remember the meeting about CET we had in the past with Dr Sant were we all had questions which could not be answered. The current administration had made fun of that situation and gained a political advantage. What is the difference now?

Its bad enough that we have to contend with the every increasing competition and that our gross margins are always decreasing. In fact when you consider everything we are not really in business at all but rather the government is. If my calculations are right the government will now make 18% VAT, and another 5% Eco tax on a standard entry-level computer system. That is a total of 23% on every sale of a system which is more than most of us dealers make. If there is any profit left after paying all the expenses then the government takes an additional 35% of that!!

There is also tax evasion to consider here. Where is this government’s policy to streamline taxes so that tax evasion is controlled? Do you all remember when Duties were removed with the argument that if there are no high duties it would not be worth your while to evade taxes? We are once again faced with the problem that the difference in price between the products of those who choose to evade taxes and those who are honest will be great, making the situation worse for those of us who are honest.

In my opinion this situation simply cannot continue. If the true pulse of the economy is the SME then as a country we are in trouble. The pulse is definitely going to slow down even more and in many cases it will stop eventually. I, for one will have to be insane to advise my children to go into business for themselves. It used to be an adventure to go into business. It used to be enjoyable albeit risky to invest your own money and then with dedication and hard work perhaps to see your business grow. Now, it’s just a fight to stay alive and to keep abreast with any new regulation that the government sees fit to throw at you. If you don’t know about it then it’s your pigeon, you end up paying it yourself!

I think that the government is just looking for ways to collect more taxes while blatantly disregarding any effect it may have on the small business or the general public for that matter. Where is this government’s policy of promoting IT and the use of the Internet in business? Can’t the policy makers see that this tax will put the pace back? Can’t they see that this will affect students as well as business people?

Happy new year to you all… I doubt it will be a very happy one…