All the analysts of Jamaica's exaggerated negative response to the current global recession have agreed that a major cause of our problem lies in the the low rate of tax compliance of the Jamaican citizenry; individuals and corporations included. The response articulated recently by our prime minister of cutting public-sector employment is a perpetuation of an increasingly common approach in Jamaica of 'going for the low-hanging fruit' or taking the path of least resistance.

As so amply demonstrated by the Roosevelt administration in the United States, the Keynesian formula of using government expenditure as the catalyst for overcoming economic depression, is a tried and tested approach.

Major contributor

The suggested strategy, therefore, is not that of merely reducing public-sector employment, already itself a major contributor to Government's tax revenues, but one focused on improving tax compliance to increase the revenue side of the Budget.

Several months ago, a female caller to a popular radio talk show made a suggestion on increasing tax revenues so profound in its simplicity, that it seems to have escaped notice. In summary, her suggestion was to require that all applications for renewal of motor-vehicle licences must be accompanied by a current tax compliance certificate. Her suggestion, she stated, was based upon the observation that a large percentage of persons liable for income tax, including most of the tax dodgers, owned motor vehicles. In order to facilitate this, she further suggested beefing up the staff and improving the information technology capacity of the tax compliance and revenue collection units of the relevant revenue departments.

I use this opportunity to commend this caller's suggestion to the consideration of our political directorate as it offers a cost-neutral option to rationalise the current workforce employed in the public sector while significantly increasing the Government's revenues.

I am, etc.,

Paul Jennings