I wonder when the Government gine come down hard ’pon the people who owe dem the lot o’ millions o’ dollars so dat all the debt duh keep talking ’bout all the time, would get paid off and duh would ease up offa poor people like me and cut we some slack from all o’ these bills and taxes all the time.I was reading there in the papers the other day bout this chartered accountant Doug Skeete, who was saying dat the Government revenue collection agencies need tuh be more efficient in bringing in the hundreds o’ millions o’ dollars dat are owed tuh dem.The next paragraph went on tuh say dat Mr Skeete was kinda warning the Government against increasing taxation in a effort tuh collect more revenue.Then in another part o’ dat same article, it said the Government indicated dat the Inland Revenue, the Land Tax Department and the Vat Office are some o’ the collection agencies that over $700 million is owed tuh.Now explain this tuh me ’cause I like I aint thinking suh straight here, and I know I doan drink – the most I does drink all day long is water. I want tuh know how in the name o’ God summuch money could be owed tuh these agencies? Who is these people who could get ’way wid something like this? $700 million? Wha’ dah is tan-ta money, ting!Look, I come along and hear the old people saying: “Kisses go by favour” and I is a big woman now and have come tuh prove it fuh myself. Um is true, true, true; kisses does definitely go by favour.Now you think anybody like me could owe one o’ these Government agencies or any o’ the businesses ’bout here anything? No soul, dem would be down in my neckbone like a collar dat too tight. I would be frighten tuh pick up the phone anytime it ring fuh fear dat it is one o’ dem harassing me fuh money.Talking ’bout phone, you and I know dat ya cahn owe the telephone company nutten; from the time you see a month up, a voice mail message does come on telling ya tuh pay the bill tuh avoid disconnection. Then duh gine give you a few more days and if dat money ain’t paid my dear, you could be sure dat dem gine disconnect you and ya gine got tuh pay dem to tuh reconnect it, plus the money ya owe dem too.Same thingUm is the same thing wid the electric company and the water works department; dem people doan cool out. You know how many times my heart miss a beat whenever I hear a big truck coming up the road pass my house, and I know dat I got the light and water bills tuh pay but cahn raise the amount o’ money tuh pay dem?All I does be thinking is which truck it is, ’cause lemmuh tell ya, if dem tek off ya water or electricity at all, you cahn pay the simple bill but ya does have tuh now go and find more money tuh put wid wha’ ya ain’t got, tuh get dem utilities put back on or reconnected as they would say.I cahn even guh pass two months owing nuh kind o’ business in Barbados and you could tell me dat the amount o’ money people owe these Government agencies could add up tuh all o’ dat? Well! But tell me though, how ya does get way wid owing the Government summuch money? How the Government does leh ya get way wid owing dem dah kinda money? Look, I owe some money tuh one o’ the credit unions and I gine tell ya something now, if I didn’t have a strong heart and God in my life, I ain’t know where I would be today; I know dat one o’ dem silent killers woulda done got me tek out a’ready.But all the talking and analysing wunna doing, all I would ask is dat wunna please doan put on nuh more taxes pon we poor people. All like now so we groaning under this pressure and barely mekking it. I would suggest dat all wunna Government agencies try and put some kinda measures in place tuh get back wunna money from some o’ these people who owe wunna and who could more than pay wunna. Most o’ duh far better of than a lot o’ we. But just doan tek it out pon we poor people all the time because we poor, simple and honest.
• Mavis Beckles was born and raised in The Orleans. She has an opinion on everything.
