Daily Archives: December 23, 2021

Sir,

The greatest sin of our time must surely be the state of despair, misery, depression, confusion and nearly complete idleness of the youth which is a result of unemployment and underemployment of the youth in the country. I think not of a better time than now during this pandemic to express my frustrations and those of many young people who are trapped in poverty due to unemployment.

Virus

The virus has hit us greatly and its impacts are felt by many, but I put it to our youth that the effects of this outbreak might be even severely felt in more years to come. The virus has presented us with sickness, fear and death and it has also devastated the survival of many who have lost their jobs permanently and temporarily.

Eswatini over the years has been cursed with the simultaneous plagues of infection and poverty, both resulting to the collapse of a very pivotal group, the youth of this country. The youth are supposed to be the driving force of a new and better country, they are responsible for creating socio-economic, political, creative and constructive changes that will ensure a bright and prosperous future for the current and next generation. Sadly, this has not been happening for quite a while. With everyone bound by many social ills, the youth have been suffering even more. Many are stagnant (idle), some educated with no prospects of being employed. Given such harsh times and the disheartening reality, what exactly is the youth to do to survive?

There are numerous afflictions that have poured down on our young, presumed to be productive youth. From time to time we hear our elders in our communities complaining how immoral and lost our young people are.

Destruction

It is as if this generation has been consumed by the devils wishes for human destruction or maybe he has succeeded at his mission looking at the demise of our youth? Maybe to shed light to our leadership and elders, what exactly could result of a young generation that is just living without purpose, waiting for death to strike? The youth are just floating about, deeply emerged in nothingness and their idle state. Such waste of so much potential and talent!! Such demise is dangerous both to our current state of engagement in society and even worse towards the future. Our leadership in every aspect ought to repent before this idleness kills everything we call an Eswatini society which is thriving.

Remind

We need to remind ourselves the destructiveness that may come with an idle mind and how poisonous such a mind can be. It is the responsibility of the youth to come up with solutions to their own problems and be creative in finding better solutions to such problems, yet at the same time it is also the responsibility of our leadership to assist and aid youth development. Yes, our government is trying but surely it is not enough. The youth therefore has a critical mandate to discover and to create a new functional Eswatini filled with progression and the prevention of suffering.

Read more here:

Times Of Swaziland - Times of Swaziland

OPINION: Euphemisms are everywhere. Someone who is tired and emotional is drunk. In real estate parlance a Great first step on the property ladder! or a Great first home! is probably a hovel, especially in Auckland.

Politicians and economists resort to them all the time. A market correction sounds like a price being changed at the greengrocers but it actually describes a catastrophic price collapse in the share or property markets. Lower socio-economic groups is a euphemism for poor people.

Euphemisms usually have more words, or at least more syllables, than the basic concrete (usually Anglo-Saxon derived) word which everyone can understand instantly, without having to translate it in their heads. The act of translation (the euphemisers hope) distances us from the concepts that are being described and simultaneously hidden.

The best test for a euphemism is: Do you have to translate the phrase youve just heard into something more concrete - something you can instantly relate to. So when someone asks to be directed to a restroom I know shes not planning to have forty winks. If someone breaks wind hes not building a shelter. When your doctor asks you for a stool sample, dont bring a seat from your breakfast bar.

READ MORE:* Plain Language Bill aims to end bureaucratic bluster* Houston, we have a new word and it's a mouthful* Masterpiece of corporate bombast from an American CEO

Samo Trebizan/123rf

Euphemisms are common when it comes to bodily functions.

Euphemisms are often associated with anything where someone wants to gild the lily (a euphemism for lying), especially bodily functions, sex (which I suppose is a bodily function) and death. These days especially death.

In New Zealand, until recently, people used to die. My grandparents died, and so did my father, or thats what people said at the funerals. But when Mum died a couple of years back, everyone, from the nurse at the hospital, to most giving their commiserations at the funeral, expressed their regret at her passing away, or worse, her passing.

Which makes it sound like she either gave a cheery wave on her way to the shops, or she was excreted.

The same P word was used instead of the D word at a friends funeral recently. I used the D word and was treated, by one person, as if Id sworn. I should have spared the familys feelings, apparently.

Excuse me?

The deceased was lying in his casket. (A euphemism for coffin. In the old days, you could store knick-knacks or jewellery in those.) He, in the slightly adapted words of the Monty Python parrot sketch, was An ex-person. His metabolic processes are now history! He wasnt resting.

123rf

People used to talk about dying, Lyall McFarlane writes, but now we talk about people passing away.

My use of the non-euphemistic word for his familys loss was the least of their worries.

Now funeral celebrants and most attendees treat THAT word like Harry Potter did uttering the name of Lord Voldemort - something dire will happen if one utters its name. As if they might catch their deaths.

I first noticed this trend in this part of the world in 2017, after the drowning of a Kiwi family in the New South Wales floods. An Aussie media outlet said they had passed away. A few months later, comic great John Clarke was reported as passed away on a bush walk. He died of a heart attack.

None of these deaths was peaceful. They were tragically sudden. Sometimes its best to acknowledge a situations gravity by calling a spade a spade.

Old Australian euphemisms for the Great Divide, like, Fell off ones perch, or, Did a bit of a perish, at least had the benefit of understated ironic wit. Not that Im advocating their use in formal settings.

Australians are oh so Americanised, I said to myself, That pulling of punches wont happen here.

Wrong.

Last year, a TV reporter stood in front of a car wreck and told the camera that the driver had passed away, while fleeing police. Judging by the vehicles state, the driver didnt drift off to the Elysian Fields.

I hope the reporters producer had a word with her, and that it wasnt a preview of things to come.

Even in more prosaic passings away, whats wrong with calling them the deaths they are? Most of our media are still telling it like it is, but for how long?

Like most trends adopted here, this development came from America the home of restrooms and stools.

Ive trolled through their media and apart from quality papers, like the New York Times, and traditional broadcast media, they just dont say good old d.e.a.t.h.

For a nation with such a high proportion of professed Christians, it's odd that they seem to feel the need to hide from the fact that, sure-as-shootin, theyre all going to die. Mind you, previously theyve done sterling work in pulling the wool over their eyes that they all have to pee and poo.

123RF

Psychology says that trying not to think of something just makes us think about it more.

There are dozens of sociological and psychological texts devoted to The American Denial of Death.

Ive read them so you dont have to. To sum up, its derived from a culture of relentlessly forced optimism. The reasoning seems to be Sure, every other person in history has died. Losers! But Im gonna be positive and BEAT this thing!

To take any other position would deny theyre not complete masters of their own manifest destiny.

But none of us entirely are.

Treating death as on a par with the other bodily functions we sweep under the collective carpet, wont fend it off. Psychology says that consciously trying NOT to think of something just makes us think about it more. Its proper shrink name is Ironic Process Theory, but its more commonly known as The Pink Elephant Effect. I once was a guinea pig in one of these thought experiments.

When told by brain-care specialists, Whatever you do, dont think of pink elephants! the very act of thought-suppression made rose coloured pachyderms an unshakeable psyche worm. Like the unwanted earworm suffered when I hear Crazy Frog. Its far better to let a thought flit in and out of consciousness. Ditto with death.

So it might be better to consciously accept mortality, but not dwell on it by being in constant denial.

Go here to see the original:

No-one 'dies' now euphemisms are everywhere - from restrooms to market corrections - Stuff.co.nz

Exclusive nterview with Yanis Varoufakis conducted by Nataa Vlai Smrekar for Croatian media Vecernji List. Read it below:

YV: During times of relative financial calm (like now or like the 2001-2007 period), the cost of keeping the kuna (e.g., the higher interest rates you must pay for loans or the fees for converting kuna into euros) seems unnecessary and can easily lull you into wondering whats the point of keeping the kuna. In this light, I can understand the majority saying to themselves: Lets adopt the euro to stop paying fees and higher interest rates we all think in euros anyway. But, that would be a major mistake: Having your own currency is a little like having a car insurance policy you do not value it until you have an accident! In fact, it is more valuable than that. Giving up the kuna would be the equivalent not only of giving up your car insurance but of increasing the chances of a road accident as well!

Why am I saying that adopting the euro would increase the probability of a financial crisis in Croatia? For this simple reason: Presently, when wages are paid in kuna, German banks are somewhat reluctant to lend working class and middle-class Croats because of the possibility that the kuna-euro exchange rate will slide, thus making it harder for Croat borrowers to repay euro loans. But, the moment Croatia adopts the euro formally, German banks will be less coy in lending Croat banks to lend to Croats, especially those who own property that can be used as collateral. Soon, more and more loans will flow from Frankfurt to Zagreb via Croatian banks. The result will be a vast increase in private debt owed ultimately to German bankers while house prices rise (as more buyers will have borrowed more money to buy them). All this will contribute to a false growth spurt, as people who think their assets and businesses have risen in value borrow even more (e.g., via credit cards) to buy more Volkswagens and Peugeots and other imports. Thats how a bubble is inflated before going pop, leaving behind a trail of bankruptcies.

You can imagine the rest: Having been inflated due to the adoption of the euro, the inevitable private debt bubble will have burst. Because this debt is, now, denominated in a currency that the Croatian central bank cannot print (euros!), Croatian banks will go bust and so will a Croatian state that will not be able to honour its deposit guarantee to Croat savers. At that sad moment two possibilities arise: One is that Croatian banks will go bust and the Croat state, to refloat them, will re-issue the kuna, i.e., exit the eurozone. Another is that the European Central Bank will step in to refloat both the Croatian banks and the Croatian state by means of a huge Greek-like bailout loan that, of course, will be given only under conditions of extreme austerity for the vast majority of Croats. In both cases, the majority of Croats are facing a disaster in the face.

In short, my advice to Croat friends both of the left and of the right is: Dont do it! Stay out of the eurozone! After all, there is a great deal to lose from eurozone membership and very little to gain, as the cases of Poland, Hungary and Czechia demonstrate (the former communist EU countries that, bynotjoining the euro, did better than any of the peripheral eurozone economies; e.g. Greece, Portugal, Spain, Cyprus etc.).

YV: The simple answer is that the only way properly to democratise the eurozone is to turn it into a democratic federation, complete with a federal government and a federal finance ministry that unifies a large part of both public and private debt.

Margaret Thatcher had opposed the euro because she feared it was a move toward federation through the backdoor. If only she were right! It wasnotan attempt to usher in a federation. It was far worse than that: A monetary union that locked our peoples in an iron cage of austerity while denying them the opportunity to vote democratically to break open the cages door. Why did the political architects of the euro do this?

For two reasons: From the perspective of surplus countries, like Germany and the Netherlands, it made sense because any financial crisis in the eurozone would put them in the driving seat since governments of deficit countries (including Italy and France) would be bankrupt and their leaders too frightened to speak up in EU Council and Eurozone meetings. The second reason is that oligarchy in every country (surplus and deficit member-states) loved the idea of making it not just hard but impossible foranyelected government to shift significant income or wealth from the haves to the have nots. [That was the effect of denying states the instruments of a central bank while ensuring that the governments would be either on or close to their spending limits.]

The problem with the above analysis is that, when people hear it, they despair. No one believes that, as things stand, it is feasible to talk of a democratic federation one in which, as long as the principle of one-person-one-vote stands, the majority of people will be residents of the poorer, deficit member-states. This realisation begets a sense of helplessness. Nothing empowers fascists, xenophobes and ultra-rightists more than a sense of national humiliation and personal helplessness. To counter this feeling, DiEM25 proposed in the last European Parliament elections as part of our Green New Deal for Europe a two-step process toward the effective democratisation of the European Union:

Step 1: Asimulationof an economic federation based on two main moves. First move would be to let the European Investment Bank (EIB) put huge amount of green investment across Europe and, in particular, in building up a Green Energy Union. This move would simulate a federal investment program by cutting the nation-states out and financing the Green Energy Union without new taxes and centrally. How? The EIB issues bonds to the tune of half a trillion euros every year and the ECB promises to buy them if needs be (something it would not need to do because the mere promise it would buy them would suffice to create huge demand for these bonds). The second move would be to europeanise public debt equal to 60% of any countrys national income. How? By having the ECB issue bonds of its own, to that amount, and swapping them for the national bonds a simulation of creating a federal European public debt similar in structure to the US federal debt.

Step 2: Once large portions of European investment and public debt had become quasi-federal, through the simulations proposed in Step 1, the socio-economic stagnation Europe has been facing since 2008 would end and Europeans would start recognising the EU as a force for good in their daily lives. At that point, DiEM25 hoped, it would be possible to begin the conversation of how to put together a proper, fully-fledged, democratic federation.

YV: here was, undoubtedly, a degree of incompetence during the election campaign on behalf of the Green Partys leaders. However, the main lesson is that de-radicalising a formerly radical movement does not work. The German Greens have spent years trying to demonstrate to the German establishment that they are a safe pair of hands, that they can be trusted by the establishment, that the oligarchy should not fear them, that they are ready to govern with the Christian Democrats if they must. The result is that they had to adopt a conservative economic agenda that ditches the main tenets of the New Deal while keeping the name Green New Deal. In the end, they ended up a ordoliberals who wanted more money for recycling and some constraints on growth. Conservatives were not attracted to that (Why not vote for the real conservatives? they thought) while many radicals were put off.

YV: Yes, this election killed off any hope there was of a progressive turn in German politics after Angela Merkels departure. On the one hand, the complete control of the SPD by Olaf Scholz, the next Chancellor, guarantees that German social democracy will remain fully committed to stringent austerity for Germanys working class and a sad replication of Merkels variety of Christian Democracy. On the other, the entry of the FDP in government ensures that, even if Herr Scholz were to have an epiphany, the FDP will veto any progressives change in Berlins attitude toward both domestic and European politics. This is why DiEM25 is making the risky but important move of founding a new progressive party in Berlin on the 13thof November. Undoubtedly, our party will be small and must face an uphill struggle. But, given the ignominy of Die Linke and the rightist turn of the Greens, we decided that DiEM25 must have a voice in German politics which, even if faint at first, allows us to tell our story to the German progressives and to invite them to join hands with us because, let us be clear on this, nothing good can happen in Europe if it does not have a firm foundation in Europes powerhouse Germany.

YV: Once capitalism had its near-death experience in 2008, and the German banks went bust, Merkels administration put in place a sordid plan: To bail out the Frankfurt-based banks by transferring cynically the banks losses onto the shoulders of the weakest of Europes citizens. German workers had already shouldered huge levels of austerity, courtesy of both social democratic and Christian Democratic Chancellors and finance ministers. After 2009, it was the turn of the working and middle classes of South Europe to suffer the consequences. The countries of the former Yugoslavia, plus Bulgaria, suffered the indirect ill-effects of Mrs Merkels policies which I describe simply as generous socialism for the bankers and harsh austerity for everyone else. The only countries that did not completely collapse were the ones whose industry had been integrated into the German industrial machine (Poland, Hungary and Czechia) that was producing goods mainly for the Chinese market. And then, in 2015, came the influx of refugees where, after the end of Mrs Merkels two-week-long experiment with humanism (that is, after her own party forced her to abandon the open doors policy for Syrians), Berlin forged alliances with the most xenophobic politicians of the Western Balkans, along with my former comrades in the SYRIZA government, to instigate the crime against humanity and against the idea of a borderless Europe that is the ramshackle migration policy of locking innocent people up in Turkey, letting them perish in the Aegean Sea and, generally, subjecting them to studied inhumanity so that they can send a message to where they came from saying Stay away from Europe it is a cruel continenty. The problem with this alliance between Mrs Merkel and the ultra-right in the Western Balkans and beyond is that, in addition to being vile in itself, it poisoned politics and reinforced misanthropes across Europe its Eastern and South-eastern flanks in particular.

YV: It is precisely because the Left never recovered from its 1991 defeat, and studiously failed to create a transnational progressive politics that some of us banded together to form the Progressive International. As for Europe, the situation here is worse than anywhere across the planet. In Europe, the total defeat of the Left was due, in my estimation, to the decision of the Party of the European Left to turn down DiEM25s proposal of presenting Europeans in the European Parliament elections of 2019 a unified, cohesive, logical economic and political agenda. Why did they turn it down? Because they prioritised unity, i.e. running under the same umbrella, those who surrendered to the EU establishment (e.g., SYRIZA), those who sought an exit from the EU (e.g., Melenchon, Lafontain) and those who had no real view on the EU (e.g. Podemos). Except that this unity was useless as it was based on an incoherent message to the peoples of Europe. (How could it be different when parties so different in ethos and orientation run together?) My hope for the Progressive International, in Europe and elsewhere, is that it will not repeat the mistakes of the Party of the European Left and, instead, follow the example set by DiEM25. If it remains a loose confederacy of nation-state based parties, it too is doomed. DiEM25, and I personally, will do our utmost to prevent this.

YV: Central to the thesis that technofeudalism is distinct from capitalism is the observation that, following 2008, the rise of digital platforms, and more recently the pandemic, the two main drivers of capitalism are no longer central to the economic system: ProfitsandMarkets. Profit-seeking, of course, continues to drive most people. And markets are everywhere. However, the broad system we live in is no longer driven by private profits. Nor is, these days, the market the main mechanism for wealth extraction or creation.

What has replaced profits and markets? The short answer is: Central bank money has replaced capitalist profits as the systems fuel, and Big Techs digital platforms have replaced markets as the mechanism for value extraction.

Central bank money replaced profits as the systems driver: Profitability no longer drives the system, even though it remains the be-all-and-end-all for individual entrepreneurs. Indisputable evidence that central bank money, not profits, power the economic system is everywhere. A great example is what happened in London on August 12, 2020. It was the day markets learned that the British economy shrank disastrously and by far more than analysts had expected (more than 20% of national income had been lost in the first seven months of 2020). Upon hearing the grim news, financiers thought: Great! The Bank of England, panicking, will print even more pounds and channel them to us to buy shares. Time to buy shares!

This is just one of countless manifestations of a new global reality: In the United States and all over the West, central banks print money that financiers lend to corporations, which then use it to buy back their shares whose prices are thus decoupled from profits. The new barons, as a result, expand their fiefs, courtesy of state money,even if they never earn a dime of profit! Moreover, they dictate terms on the supposed Sovereign the central banks that keep them liquid. While the Fed, for example, prides itself over its power and independence, it is today utterly powerless to stop that which it started in 2008: printing money on behalf of bankers and corporates. Even if the Fed suspects that, in keeping the corporate barons liquid, it is precipitating inflation, it knows that ending the money printing will bring the house down. The terror of causing a bad debt and bankruptcy avalanche makes the Fed a hostage of its own decision to print and ensures that it will continue printing to keep the barons liquid. This has never happened before. Powerful central banks, that today keep the system going singlehandedly, have never wielded so little power. Only under feudalism did the Sovereign feel similarly subservient to its barons, while remaining responsible for keeping the whole edifice together.

Digital platforms are replacing markets:During the 20thCentury, and to this day, workers in large capitalist oligopolistic firms (like General Electric, Exxon-Mobil or General Motors) received approximately 80% of the companys income. Big Techs workers do not even collect 1% of their employers revenues. This is becausepaid labour performs only a fraction of the workthat Big Tech benefits from. Who performs the bulk of the work? Most of the rest of us! For[WS1]the first time in history, almost everyone produces for free (often enthusiastically) Big Techs capital stock (that is what it means to upload stuff on Facebook or move around while linked to Google Maps). That has never happened under capitalism. Key to understanding our new system is the realisation that digital platforms are not a new form of market. That when one enters Facebook as a user or Google as an employee, one exits the market and enters a new-fangled tech-fief.

What does this transformation of capitalism to technofeudalism mean for us all? Examples of the effects of technofeudalism include:

YV: On this huge question, allow me to refer you to my last book a political science fiction novel entitled ANOTHER NOW. In it, the plot and its characters serve the purpose of describing two things. First, how would things work (companies, housing, money, trade, democracy in the workplace, the region and the country, etc.) in a free democratic market society where all property is collectively owned, there are no stock exchanges and no commercial banks. Secondly, what kind of revolution might bring about such a socio-economic order? To answer these two questions, ANOTHER NOW imagines a global movement following the Crash of 2008 that rebelled in ways very different to those of the OCCUPY WALL STREET movement. Not wishing to offer more spoiler, I hope you allow me to say no more at this stage.

YV: It is a gimmick that will do precisely nothing to restore a modicum of tax justice to the world. Let me make this abundantly clear: Last year Amazon earned 44 billion in Europe of which it paid zero corporate tax. Under the new so-called 15% global corporate tax regime, guess how much Amazon will pay: Zero again! How come? Because the global deal, negotiated at the OECD, specifies a 15% tax on only 20% of a multinational companys global profits that accrue and here comes the fun part at a margin of above 8% above costs. But because Amazons accountants are good at exacerbating the costs, last year these margins were below 8%. Thus, once more, Amazon will pay no tax!

YV: The most important thing to remember here is that what the mainstream press refer to as trade wars between the United States and China are, in reality, class wars within the United States and China. In the United States, multinationals have been exporting jobs for years to China in order to squeeze both Chinese and American workers. Equally, in China, the growth model relies on huge investment (up to 50% of national income) which means that wages are squeezed beyond belief. While American and Chinese capitalists see their profits burgeon, and their governments squabble, it is the American and Chinese workers who fall prey to awful working lives and diminishing life prospects.

YV: After decades of globalisation based that stretched supply chains unbelievably, the Covid-19 disruption caused a sharp rise in transport costs, including the transport of oil and LNG. Coupled with some other random factors (e.g., very low wind powering the wind turbines of Northern Europe) and geopolitical brinkmanship (e.g., Russia temporarily restricting gas supplies to the EU to get its way with Nordstream 2), this blip in prices then sparked speculation: the usual suspects, making use of the huge quantities of money printed by the central banks, bought future supplies of energy and future cargo carrying capacity. The result? A temporary spike in prices is now turbocharged by speculation.

YV: No, not yet. But it may well play a role. Especially if we do not quickly introduce a carbon tax that is wholly re-distributed to the poorer Europeans.

YV: This is the great paradox of our species. Capitalism unleashed productive powers humanity did not even know it had. But, at the same time, capitalism created new forms of mind-blowing depravity that humanity had never suffered before, not even in the Middle Ages. I mention this because we are well familiar with the historic disconnect between humanitys wonderful capabilities and miserable outcomes. So, yes, I do believe we have the capacity to achieve common prosperity, that we have the technological skills to save the planet for climate catastrophe, and that we can rise up to the challenge of combining reason and ethics. But this is no guarantee, not even a hint, that we shall succeed.

In the final analysis, the whole thing boils down to the necessary and sufficient conditions for progressive change. The primary necessary condition is that we end capitalism. Tragically, this is not at all enough since the end of capitalism, as I argued above, is already happening because capitalism is begetting something worse than capitalism: technofeudalism. So, restating the primary necessary condition, our task is to struggle simultaneously against capitalism and against the new system that capitalism is morphing into under the guidance of Big Finance, Big Tech, Big Pharma and, as always, the military-industrial complex.

But even this is not enough: To synchronise technology with humanity, and reason with ethics, we need to democratise workplaces, to end labour by replacing it with automata that allow us to indulge our talents, to better ourselves, to find happiness without destroying the planet, to do creative work like artists, musicians and mathematicians for whom work is inseparable from the good life.

YV: It can help overcome nation-state based political parties, develop fully transnational movements and electoral vehicles, forge a Planetary Agenda, and unite us all into a struggle against the forces of reaction and oligarchy in every nook and every cranny of this Earth of ours.

This interview was originally published in Crotian at Vecernji List

Do you want to be informed of DiEM25's actions? Sign up here

More:

Yanis Varoufakis on why Croatia shouldn't adopt the Euro, German politics and much more - DiEM25

Hint from the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed, to the effect that the federal government would introduce new taxes and levies to implement the 2022 budget is sending cold shivers down the spine of operators and have sent ripples across Nigerias manufacturing sector and other members of the organised private sector, writes Dike Onwuamaeze.

On Monday, December 13, the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed, said, during a public hearing on the 2021 Finance Bill, which was organised by the House of Representatives Committee on Finance that the federal government would introduce new tariffs and levies in 2022 in the 2021 Finance Act as part of its reforms and amendments of the countrys tax laws.

Ahmed suggested that the antiquated stamp duties and Capital Gains Tax should be reviewed by the National Assembly stating, We prepared this draft bill (2021 Finance Act Bill) along five reform areas, the first is domestic revenue mobilisation; the second is tax administration and legislative drafting; the third is international taxation; the fourth is financial sector reforms and tax equity and the fifth is improving public financial management reform.

The provision in the draft bill is proposing to amend the CGT, Company Income Tax, Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) Establishment Act, Personal Income Tax, Stamp Duties Act and Tertiary Education Act, Value Added Tax (VAT), Insurance Police Trust Fund and the Fiscal Responsibility Act.

This is to amend the Police Trust Fund Act and the Nigerian Trust Fund Acts. The purpose is to empower the FIRS to collect the Nigerian trust fund levies on companies on behalf of the fund itself.Currently, because there is no such provision, the FIRS has been unable to start collecting on behalf of the fund. Also, it is to streamline the tax and the levy collection from the Nigerian companies in line with Mr. Presidents administration ease of doing business policy.

The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, said that the 2021 Finance Bill would seek to introduce strategic and broadminded positive reforms that would engender best practices and guarantee the interests of the investing public and businesses.

Gbajabiamila noted that the bill would seek to statutorily check borrowing by local, states and federal governments, enhance transparency and accountability in the administration in various strata of tax and public revenue generation.He said: It is instructive to state that the essence of the 2021 bill is to further reposition our finance system to plug wastes, close openings for corruption, create opportunities for employment as well as stimulate stability and growth in our productive sectors, within the wider context of our quest for economic recovery in our country.

breathing spaceHowever, the Nigerian manufacturers and members of the Organised Private Sector of Nigeria (OPSN) have asked the federal government for a breathing space and to spare business further taxation. They are saying almost in unison that any move by the government to increase taxation in whatever form or guises would be counterproductive and retard the contribution of the manufacturing sector to the GDP and cause a great setback on the ability of the real sector to support the poverty reduction/alleviation and job creation aspirations of President Muhammadu Buharis administration.

The Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), stated unequivocally that manufacturers in the country have been groaning under multiple taxations from the three tiers of government. It also said that its members are quite anxious about the imminent ill-advised re-introduction of excise, as well as steep increase in rate of excise on some products, including carbonated and non-alcoholic drinks and tobacco products.

It pleaded that manufacturing businesses are yet to fully stabilise from the debilitating disruptive effect of COVID-19 pandemic, adding that the so-called relief funds from government has remained largely non-accessible to manufacturers. No thanks to the countrys illiquid foreign exchange market that cannot accommodate their demands for hard currencies on the official FX window.

The Director General of MAN, Mr. Segun Ajayi-Kadir, said last week: The tendency is (for government) to heed the advice from the World Bank and the like for more taxation in developing economies. But it has not considered that this has not led to appreciable growth in their economies. There is need for wisdom in gauging the times we are in and assessing the possible boomerang effects on our beleaguered socio-economic environment.

With low and worsening disposable income, heightening insecurity and anxiety, caution is the word.What could be within reasonable contemplation should be widening the tax net to capture the largely untaxed endeavours that ought to have been within the tax bracket.

I would want to believe that what the Honourable Minister (of Finance) was referring to is that the net will be expanded to capture those and not that exiting legitimate and diligent tax payers would be made to pay more or that additional taxes would be levied upon them. That will be counterproductive and the envisaged additional revenue may not be realized. Instead, we may start to witness dwindling profitability, higher rate of business failure and predisposition to tax evasion. This is not to mention the disincentive to local and foreign investment.

Speaking in the same vein last week, the Chairman of the OPSN, Mr. Taiwo Adeniyi said that the organization has deemed it necessary to once again share its perspective and position on salient national economic issues within the context of setting the countrys economic priorities right and avoiding actions or counter-policies that could negate the gains.

Adeniyi, who is also the President of NECA, said that members of the OPSN are; vehemently opposed to any attempt to further burden organised businesses in the guise of new taxes or levies at the three-tiers of government. Doing so will be counterproductive as this could further stifle the already burdened businesses, most of whom currently operate at less than 50 per cent capacity utilisation.

It will also further lead to an upsurge in unemployment rate with its attendant socio-economic consequences. We call on the National Assembly not to accommodate or insert provisions that could further burden organised businesses into bills presented to it. We wish to specifically draw the attention of the National Assembly to the Establishment of the Tertiary Hospital Development Fund Bill 2021, which among other things seek to impose one per cent tax on businesses.

Organised businesses are currently providing healthcare services for the staff through in-house hospitals, HMO providers or direct billing. It is unreasonable and will be an over-kill to still saddle the same organisations with the task of contributing to infrastructural development in the healthcare sector. Businesses are currently paying various percentages of their revenue to the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund, Industrial Training Fund, National Pension Commission and other government agencies.

excise dutyAdeniyi also broached on the intention to reintroduce excise duty on carbonated drinks. He recalled that excise duties on carbonated drinks were suspended in 2009 during the global financial crisis to aid the sustainability of businesses. He, therefore, expressed concern that the federal government recently made pronouncements on reintroducing the excise duty on this class of products.

He said: We make bold to say that the economic situation which necessitated the suspension of the excise in 2009 has not abated. In fact, businesses currently face greater hardship than what obtained in 2009. The introduction of the tax will be counter-productive as it will lead to further stifling of businesses in carbonated dring industry.Globally, at a time when governments continue to provide incentives for industries to speed up recovery from the shocks of the COVID-19 pandemic and escalating costs, Nigeria cannot afford to be doing the exact opposite as manufacturers, across all product segments need a respite, especially in the light of the unprecedented increase in production and operating costs.

The chairman of the OPSN argued further that it is instructive to note that Nigerian manufacturers have been contending with the dislocations caused by the pandemic and the recession that followed; they are also facing serious crisis resulting from liquidity challenges in the foreign exchange market, which is impacting adversely on the cost of production; in addition, they are faced with intense pressure arising from numerous structural bottlenecks that are creating sustainability challenges for investors, especially those in the SME segment. Also of concern is significant spike in the cost of raw materials, cost of fund, high import duty, elevated energy cost, prohibitive cost of transportation and high cost of logistics/shipping.

We therefore, urge Government to jettison the idea of reintroducing the excise duty on carbonated drinks but continue to support and promote the industry to attain full recovery after the onslaught of the pandemic and position it to further accommodate the teeming unemployed Nigerian, particularly the youths.

Investment Friendly PolicyOn Thursday, December 16, the Sectorial Chairman of Non-Metallic Mineral Products Sectorial Group of Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), Mr. Afam Mallinson Ukatu, returned on the same subject when he spoke to members of Commerce and Industry Correspondence Association of Nigeria at the Sheraton Hotel, Lagos.

Ukatu appealed to the government to prevail on the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to make an investment friendly monetary policy that would prevent the total collapse of manufacturing industries in Nigeria.He claimed that inadequate availability of FX has affected many industries and constrained them source FX at higher exchange rates from the parallel market at a rates that are 30 per cent or more above the official exchange in order to remain in production.

According to him, the manufacturing and steel industry is facing lots of problems, regarding accessibility to foreign exchange to buy raw materials spare parts, which he identified as what it takes to keep a manufacturing concern alive and kicking.

Ukatu, who is also the managing director/CEO, NISPO Porcelain Coy Limited, said: Your factory will be collapsing if you are not able to have access to FX to buy raw materials and spare parts. The MAN has been advocating that the CBN should create a window that can help genuine manufacturers to have access to FX with ease but to no avail.

Speaking on the same point, the Founder/Chief Executive Officer of Centre for the Promotion of Private Sector, Dr. Muda Yusuf, observed that the high import dependence of Nigerian manufacturing sector on imported raw materials exposed it to three major risks. These are sharp depreciation of the currency, liquidity crisis in the FX market, and volatility of FX rate, which create considerable uncertainty and unpredictability for investors.

Yusuf said that the impact of currency depreciation on the real sector and the Small and Mediun Enterprises include high cost of production, low sales and turnover because of the increase in price and effect on demand, erosion of profit margins because not all the additional cost can be passed on consumers and increase in business continuity risk for some segments of manufacturing.

Like Loading...

Read more:

Manufacturers: Burden of Increased TaxesTHISDAYLIVE - THISDAY Newspapers