Dear Editor,
Over the last week, three things I had experienced left me wondering if there is good life for the ordinary and common citizens of this country. I am a normal citizen with a normal job who lives a normal life with a normal family.
When one notes the 50 per cent salary increases for the executives, the hiring of former army people to COI and to head state agencies, the sole sourcing, the dismissal of employees, the loss of jobs by GuySuCo workers, the everyday robberies (some which are not reported); I ask, is this the good life for me as a normal citizen? It is easy to talk but difficult to do the walk.
As normal citizen, I would expect to be treated normally when seeking services in both the public and private sectors. But unfortunately, being a common citizen, you are treated commonly.
My first experience of common treatment is when I visited a local bank to inquire about a loan regarding the purchasing of an automobile. I was elated when I was told that I have qualified and would be getting a loan at a rate of 9%. I quoted two amounts and was told, that based on the payback period, what my instalments would be. Subsequently, I checked the amounts that I quoted using an excel loan sheet and with the 9% and payback period, I saw that the calculation of the instalments were lower. In noting this, I did some calculations and found out that the bank’s instalment includes a further 16.42%. This means that when you calculate your 9% with a specific payback period, the value you get must be added by a further 16.42% which is payable to the bank. At no time this information of the further addition of 16.42% was related to me. How fair is this to me?
My second experience is last December; I took advantage of their no down payment promotion and bought an item. I was told the payments for my instalments would commence in February 2016. I completed all the related transactions, received my item and have been paying my monthly instalments on time. Last week, I went to inform them that I wish to pay off for my item. To my dismay, the amount that I have to pay off includes the original price of my item and further $150,000.
Now I would understand that the payments should be less than the original price, as my instalments would have been reducing it and the interest would be up to the date of payment. In fact, when I calculated, including what I have been paying monthly for the last six months, I would end paying the original price for the item and approximately 75% in interest on this price in the less than nine months that i have been paying. I took a three year plan. It is like paying for interest not accumulated. When I expressed my disappointment about this, I was told that I can look at it from any way I want. How fair is this to me?
My third experience is when the then Government announced the Mortgage Interest Relief (MIR) in 2013, it came indeed as relief to hundreds of first time homeowners. I started benefiting from it from 2014 and with the system then adopted, saw that every three months the amounts calculated as the relief was deposited in my savings account which was all administered by my bank. This present government has made an amendment to the Income Tax Act, which saw the taxpayer obtaining from the lending institution, the Form 4, which comprises the information regarding the interests paid for the year for 2015. Most persons would have received their MIR for the first half of 2015 under the previous system. With the new system in place, in completing your tax return for year of income 2015, you had to include the information of the Form 4 (which was attached) and based on your computation, it would be calculated what will be the amount due to you. A cheque with your reimbursed amount would be subsequently issued to you. I followed all the procedures and have submitted my tax return in April of 2016. To date, I have not heard, nor received any notifications on my MIR due to me.
So, I called the MIR department at the GRA and was told that everything is on hold, as the lending agencies have not submitted the relevant information to GRA. So I called my lending agency and was informed that the only obligation the agency had was to provide the taxpayer with the Form 4 which the taxpayer has to use to obtain their MIR. So why it is then, that if the agency is not obligated to do anything else, GRA cannot proceed to process taxpayers’ MIR? How fair is this to me?
The school holidays are coming to end. With no salary increase, no MIR, and mortgage and bills to be paid, my life as a normal citizen is really common, as all that have been done so far is only benefiting those at the top, surely not the common man down at the bottom.
Respectfully,
Akanni Persaud
