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Passing it on!
The container tax threatens the livelihoods of a number of ordinary workers. If this tax is consented to, it could see less work for these persons because the business community is going to try to cut corners to reduce the overall costs of clearing a container.
The unpacking of a container after it leaves a wharf provides work for about ten labourers. These guys who come from the poorer sections of the city depend on the unpacking of the containers to provide an income for them.
The initial fee being charged for the container tax may not seem that high, but that is only a fraction of the costs that importers have to pay to have their containers cleared.
There are other costs which have to be paid. The importers usually have to grease public officials’ palms to expedite the clearance of the containers otherwise it could end up on the wharf for weeks. Importers have to pay custom duties and brokerage fees.
They have to pay storage fees for the container while the customs processes the documents. They have to pay the shipping company for transporting the container. They have to pay demurrage charges. They have to pay landing fees on top of local handling charges.
When the container reaches the storage bonds, they have to hire labourers to unpack the container and then another set to take account of it.
The $25,000 container fee may not seem much but it adds up to all the other costs that the importer has to pay. The business community will be forced to cut corners and the axe is going to fall on those young men who, for a fee, are employed to empty the containers.
For these guys the work they get unpacking the container puts food in their mouths. They make a decent amount for a few hours work. That will soon end.
It was disappointing to learn that the Shipping Association withdrew the case against the City Council. The Shipping Association may be hoping that the government will intervene and ask the Council to withdraw this tax.
If this is what the Shipping Association has in mind it should think again. The present political forces that control City Hall have always controlled it, including during the twenty-three years of the PPP/C governments.
The only reason why City Hall did not go ahead and implement this tax in the past is that they knew that the PPP/C government would not have allowed it. The only difference between then and now is that City Hall knows that it has a sympathetic government.
This is why it is doing what it is doing. It knows that political forces running the country will not put pressure on City Hall to reverse the measures that it is implementing in relation to parking meters, and the container tax.
City Hall knows that it has licence from Government to implement these taxes and it will not be dissuaded from doing do.
City Hall is being allowed to do what it wants while a masquerade is taking place in Region Five because somebody’s ego was bruised, because the Regional Chairman did not turn up to a ‘partisan’ rally held by the APNU+AFC government.
The City Hall officials have freedom and autonomy, but the Regional Administration of Region Five is being held hostage to political bullyism.
The Shipping Association lost an opportunity to have the court pronounce on the legality and constitutionality of the container tax. It probably is hoping to open discussions with City Hall, but it will discover that City Hall will not be persuaded by its arguments.
The $25,000 container tax is an oppressive tax. It will be passed on to consumers. The business community in Guyana does not absorb losses or bear the cost of taxes. They pass it on. They will pass on the container tax.
They will also cut corners and displace those labourers who they normally employ. They will use their own staff to unpack the containers.
The business community will have a rude awakening. The container tax is at the moment pegged at $25,000. It will increase. And more burdens will be passed on to consumers.
The business class does not like to be bullied. And they are being bullied at the moment. But once they are consulted they will not give a hang if the container fee is raised within a year to $50,000. They have nothing to lose. They will pass it on and cut more corners.
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