In yesterday's Tribune Business, Mr. Gowon Bowe came out in support of Super Value Foodstore chain owner, Jr. Roberts who was lamenting the lack of an appeals process for fines assessed by the Inland Revenue Department over disputed infractions with the application of Value Added Tax (VAT).
Of course, coercive power like this is in most if not all of our legislation, and requests to address this by the The Nassau Institute for example, have been ignored for decades.
The Chamber Chairman might also be correct when he states that he is "not sure any VAT system in the world where all issues are completely resolved. Governments are quick on revenues and slow to pay. That's the rule with any government."
However, glossing it over in this manner suggests we should not expect the government to be accountable to same standards they hold the taxpayer to.
I mockingly refer to this as "Lowe's Law", which states, Politician's spend their careers making laws to keep everyone else accountable, to make the average citizen and business play "fair" and "do the right thing", yet, they refuse to hold themselves to the same standards.
Fair is fair. Right is right. And wrong is wrong. It is time for this to change. Just as each individual is expected to be fair and accountable no less should be demanded of government.
