A BARBADIAN IN another sector of the island’s economy is complaining about the uneven playing field on which they have to operate.
Mr Morris Lee of the Association of Public Transport Operators has complained that the road tax for members of the group is way above that of foreign-owned businesses using a similar type vehicle.
He disclosed that the association members have a road tax cost of $2 250 while businesses such as UPS and Fedex pay $375 for a 14-seater vehicle.
Apart from the tourism-related hotel industry, Barbadians are now hearing about “uneven playing field” in the transport sector.
It is an obvious cause for concern when Barbadians feel that they are being treated unfairly and non-nationals are at the receiving end of various concessions.
Rules, regulations and requirements in a number of areas ought to be standardised to show some balance and equity rather than cause locals to believe they are being treated unjustly.
The following are a few examples that readily come to mind:
In the hotel sector there are anomalies related to tax concessions for non-nationals vis a vis locals.
In the transport sector there are anomalies related to road tax.
In the agricultural sector there is disequilibrium in relation to the price of locally grown produce vis-à-vis imported produce.
In the manufacturing of clothing and furniture there is disequilibrium in prices of the locally produced and the imported.
Different approaches and models have to be applied by current and future policymakers if locals are to reap benefits from the sweat of their brow as others do.
In a modern age as today is, nothing becomes more challenging than applying one of the lines from the Prayer of Saint Ignatius of Loyola.
At the penultimate line of his prayer, the saint asked God to teach mankind “to labour and not to ask for any reward”.
– MICHAEL RAY