Here are some suggestions

THE EDITOR: Several conditions hinder the progression of this twin-island republic.

Many businesses have closed and very few businessmen are willing to open new businesses or reopen old ones. This results in a number of people being laid off or unable to find new jobs.

As a person with a business, I wish to offer a few suggestions and the reasons for them.

The ministry of labour should get rid of the severance pay law.

No employment contract ever mentions severance pay. It is unproductive and only contributes to laziness on the part of the employee and headaches for the employer. Does this even exist outside of TT? Stop supporting unproductive, disruptive and lazy workers.

Increase the income-tax exemption to at least $120,000. This will give people from the lower income bracket some spending power which will help businesses to prosper and possibly expand, thereby creating more employment opportunities and reducing the number of people on welfare.

Get rid of the Value Added Tax, it just makes no sense.

Get rid of what I call the nuisance tax (Business Levy). Just imagine your business suffers a loss for the quarter but you have to pay business levy because it is based on your sales. You have already lost money, you do not need another burden..

Reopen the oil refinery, if it is not too late. If we do not have oil, our neighbour to the south does. It just might be early enough to stop the construction of the Dominican refinery.

These few measures will result in more businesses to contribute to larger tax collections. Also, there may be no need to increase the minimum wage, thereby keeping our production costs competitive on the world market.

RICHARD DEANE

Diego Martin