
Good Tax, Bad Tax
Date: October 6th 2017
Dear Editor/Newsroom,
Fishermen and Friends of the Sea (FFOS) congratulate the Honourable Minister of Finance for proposing to implement an “environmental tax” of $20 TTD per automotive tyre imported into Trinidad and Tobago. It is hoped that this tax will cover the cost of proper disposal of used tyres and curb indiscriminate dumping but how was the value of this “environmental tax” determined? If the process, mechanism and cost of recycling tyres are unknown, how can the value be justified?
The rationale behind this “environmental tax” is synonymous to that of the Beverage Container Bill which has been left to gather dust in our Parliament library. Every successive Government has paid lip service to their responsibility to “protect” by bypassing this critically important waste management tool which encourages bottlers and importers to act responsibly. Can you imagine how many food and beverage containers are dumped for the entire life cycle of one automotive tyre, and yet we get a $20.00 tyre tax, but no beverage recycling initiative. Why?
Unless we get serious about good public administration who adhere to sustainable development goals, our Nation will be haunted by the seeds of our negligence which are being sown today.
Sincerely,
Gary Aboud
Corporate Secretary