The Editor, Sir:

It is nearing the end of yet another calendar year, as 2010 is just a week away. This is traditionally a joyful season for Jamaicans. We are traditionally happy around this time of year, glad that we can thank God for life and renew our wishes for prosperity. Many will agree, however, that the recent tax debacle has put a damper on wishful thoughts of 2010 prosperity.

One cannot help but note how differently this administration has led the nation into this season. Some call it wicked, others call it sobering, call it what you may, but there is no denying that the timing of the tax announcement is a new and different approach to Jamaican governance. Whether this is good or bad is another thing.

We have had troubling years before but we always seem to end feeling high. With all the Christmas-work projects, parties and the humanitarian delay of bad news, the Jamaican yearend has not, to my recollection, borne such a sombre mood due to such an announcement.

Everything seems hopeless

It is only a pity that the new and different approach demonstrated by the timing of this announcement has not transferred to the approach to solving our economic problems. Everything seems hopeless to the public because our representatives keep approaching our issues in the same way. A return to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the subsequent taxation are the worst demonstrations of this trend.

Much public talk has ensued about the latest tax measures being unavoidable, about it being a bitter, overdue pill that we just have to swallow. The proponents of that argument obviously view a balance of the nation's quality of life as secondary to a balance of payments. Our nurses, doctors, entrepreneurs and many young professionals want to stop contributing to the economy by leaving the country. If that is a side effect of the bitter pill, then it does more harm than good. The income lost from bauxite, banana and sugar cane should be replaced with another publicly managed for-profit business, not by way of taxation.

I am, etc.,

Gary Thompson

GaryOThompson@yahoo.com

St Catherine