A SIGNIFICANT drop in the number of returning residents to the island is being blamed on a "rapacious taxation system" and "greedy professionals" who continue to exploit the group.

That is the opinion of president of the Association of Returning Residents of Jamaica (ARRJ), Percival LaTouche, who spoke at a recent function at the Terra Nova Hotel in honour of visiting British Member of Parliament, Dianne Abbott.

He noted that "since 1995, the number of Jamaicans returning has fallen from over 3,000 to 2,208 in 1996 and to 2,292 in 1997 and 1,871 in 1998. In the first three months of this year, only 557 have returned. If the trend continues, then we will see a 32 per cent drop for the period.

"The main reasons for the falling figures are the high crime rate, the uncertainties of the financial sector, the high tax on returning resident's cars, the greedy attorneys-at-law and the greedy building societies," he said.

Mr. LaTouche said there are more than 37,000 Jamaicans in Britain who are ready to come home with "cash and skills, with professions that we need here. The way to get them here is for Government to address these problems."

The ARRJ president noted that in Barbados returnees "do not pay a single penny for their cars. In Trinidad and Tobago, only $4 per cc for vehicles over 1500 ccs is paid. In Guyana, the duty is 30 per cent, In St. Lucia 38 per cent and, in Grenada, it is 40 per cent. Why should Jamaicans pay 75 per cent?", he asked.

In support of his grouse, Miss Abbott said: "Returning residents, I believe, are the biggest earners of foreign exchange here. Unlike tourism with its imports and outflows, there are no inputs and outputs with those who keep coming and who invest directly in this economy."

She said, "I have driven through the country, and there is no village so dusty that you do not see a smart home built by a returning resident. The significance of this group is yet to be appreciated, and their efforts facilitated, by the government."

According to the British MP: "Their biggest grief is not really the crime, but having to pay almost double the cost of your car to bring it home. People feel that they are being raped. The Government has come a long way, but they need to go further still. People need reminders about how hard the returnees have worked to achieve what they have achieved. They need more consideration.

"Sometimes it's as if people see them just as fruits ripe for the plucking."

In response, Minister of Industry and Investment, Dr. Paul Robertson told the audience that he would raise the matter with authorities, but said that a more lenient system, in the past, had been abused by others.

"The Government would be hard-pressed to introduce anything that would lend itself to the type of abuse that existed," he stated.