THE SECTORAL Debate can be an uninspiring litany of great achievements from the Government benches and of criticisms and complaints from the Opposition benches. But one item from Phillip Paulwell, the Minister of Commerce, Science and Technology, which caught our attention, was the self-supporting status achieved by the Jamaica Bureau of Standards (JBS).
The JBS, established in 1968, provides a range of services in assuring the quality and safety of goods to consumers. The Minister was "extremely pleased" to report that as of this financial year the 35-year-old bureau, having achieved self-sufficiency, indeed profitability, from the sale of these services, will be removed from the Budget. In fact the JBS is in a position to return to the Consolidated Fund $250 million which has not been spent from its last allocation.
We are an over-taxed society and many concerns have been raised about benefits received commensurate with the high levels of general taxation. The Minister of Finance and the Government in general must be painfully aware that the tolerance threshold for additional taxation has been reached and surpassed.
Many agencies of Government, supported from the Budget, sell services to the public. There is no reason why most of those agencies cannot be reorganised and operated as the JBS has done, as one of the new Executive Agencies, to earn their keep. In the last three years, the income of the JBS has increased by 43 per cent, while operational expenses has fallen by 14 per cent, and net earnings in 2002 are 38 per cent better than 2001. These results have not been achieved without some pain. Staff has been cut by more than half (57.6 per cent), including a reduction of the number of senior managers from 42 to six. The JBS has found the courage to decide that its primary function is not to provide employment, but to provide clearly-defined services to paying customers and to do so profitably. Businesses in the private sector have to make these tough choices all the time. But budget-supported state agencies have for too long been able to evade these tough decisions.
Users of the services of state agencies will pay more willingly for fast, efficient, courteous quality service than they will pay general taxes which seem to fall into a bottomless pit. And user fees are less avoidable. The Government would be wise indeed to consider the reduction of certain general taxes like the income tax in favour of more and higher user fees which allow discretionary use of disposable income. Individuals pay for the particular service they need and use rather than feeling like hapless and helpless victims of a "hol' down tek way" system of taxation. The system of Executive Agencies can transform state agencies into smart business-like entities able to earn their keep by satisfying customer demands.
THE OPINIONS ON THIS PAGE, EXCEPT FOR THE ABOVE, DO NOT NECESSARILY REFLECT THE VIEWS OF THE GLEANER.
