Where do our money really go?

THE EDITOR: Every year we are presented with a national budget which is approved by Parliament to run the affairs of the country. At times we as the citizens are told to "tighten your belt," other times to "loosen your belt," the former being more prevalent.

However, I’ve always wondered if we really have money issues in our country, or is it a case of fiscal mismanagement of the money, or greed? I may be criticised, however I am of the view that the answer to this question would be the latter two, and I will attempt to explain.

Typically, on an electricity bill for a residential property there is a customer charge of $6 prior to the total applicable for rebate, other charges and adjustments and sub-total sections respectively, after which value added tax of 12.5 per cent is applicable. The total billing is the sum of the sub-total and value added tax, whereas the payment due would take into account any net arrears incurred.

At this point, let us pull out our calculators. If we were to assume that in Trinidad alone there are roughly 700,000 inhabitants of residential properties that have full access to electricity and must pay the bill this month-end or just before, we are looking at $4,200,000 generated from just the customer charge alone.

For owners of commercial properties, it gets worse, with a customer charge of $25 applicable. How much of the $4.2 million is spent to fix light poles or even reinvested to assist underprivileged people? Where does this money go, knowing that in the budget personal emoluments are already budgeted for? Does some of it go towards having a joint effort with the protective services to handle crime or other safety issues?

Surprisingly, I am yet to see a WASA bill having a similar outline of charges.

Commercial banks habitually used to issue bank statements to customers free of charge. However, most of them, if not all, apply a fee for these same regular customers of theirs to issue such statements, while boasting periodically of the revenues and profits they have generated, even publishing such information in the newspapers.

For those who would have paid to get bank statements, where would those contributions go? I am aware that some credit unions still issue statements free of charge, whether paper-based or online.

Employees and employers alike, based on their earnings, are also subjected to payment of PAYE and health surcharge. If most of the citizenry comply with these payments, why then are our hospitals, health centres, buildings, transportation hubs, public washroom facilities, roads and bridges in such a deplorable state? Is it that we don’t have the money? I think not.

I am not advocating for folks to not pay their utility bills or taxes. What I am saying is that for all these contributions that we have made consistently over the years, there must be more accountability and visible improvements to our infrastructure and even services within the country.

Come on, TT, we can get it right with the proper attitude and mindset.

JUSTIN MARK

via e-mail