Superclubs boss John Issa came out swinging yesterday, as he ripped successive governments for their poor handling of the Tourism Enhancement Fund (TEF) and for fostering the corruption and cronyism, preventing tax compliance.
Speaking at the Rotary Club of St Andrew's weekly luncheon at The Jamaica Pegasus hotel yesterday, Issa said individuals with links to politicians, from both ends of the political pendulum, have been allowed to escape the tax axe with seeming impunity.
Feudal arrangement
He fumed that it was a conspiracy designed to penalise the wage earner.
"It has been recognised and been given lip service but unfortunately too many of the people who are evading the taxes are very close to the politicians of both parties and they may be their cousin, their friend, their wife, their supporter and it is just a corrupt conspiracy to shaft the wage earner who is helpless because it's grabbed out of his pay package before he gets it. It's almost feudal. That's the reality and it is recognised and we've done nothing about it," he said.
Additionally, the business tycoon claimed that the affairs of the multibillion-dollar TEF were a mess.
Issa argued that the TEF was initially sold as a fund that would be managed by an independent board for the purpose of enhancing the tourism environment in Jamaica.
Small fee
While the TEF was established in May 2005, the Tourism Enhancement Act was passed by Parliament in December 2004. It provided the legal basis for the Ministry of Tourism to establish a mechanism for the collection of a small fee from incoming airline and cruise passengers.
The act allows for a tourism enhancement fee of US$10 to be charged to incoming airline passengers and US$2 to be charged to cruise passengers.
The act also mandates that "monies collected" must be "paid into a dedicated Tourism Enhancement Fund".
Issa revealed that between May 2005 and December 2008, over six million stopover visitors or incoming airline passengers have contributed more than US$61 million to the fund.
For the same period, Issa said close to five million cruise-ship passengers should have contributed more than US$8.5 million to the fund.
However, Issa contends that the money from cruise-ship passengers had not been paid to the TEF.
The SuperClubs boss said he was advised that the tourism minister designated the Port Authority to collect the mandated sums from the cruise lines but that the former has refused.
He questioned if the Port Authority and the cruise lines were more powerful than the Government of the day.
Fund wrongly used
Issa went on to point out that the fund was not being used to deal with the issues put forward before its establishment, such as financing the beautifying and cleaning up of the tourist towns and roads.
He lamented that the law was written and passed with language which allows the fund to "use this great deal of money for anything remotely connected to tourism".
"So it has been used for, among other things, providing guarantees to American Airlines, to fly delegations to the Olympics and elsewhere and to finance the jazz festival," he said.
However, Issa admitted that expenditures that really enhance the tourism product had been "substantially increased and accelerated".
Meanwhile, Noel Hylton, president of the Port Authority of Jamaica refused to comment on the matter.
When asked if the Port Authority was collecting the US$2 from cruise passengers, Hylton said: "I am not aware."
Assamba unsure
Aloun Assamba, who was tourism minister from 2002 to 2007, said she did not know if the Port Authority collected the money required by law.
"I don't think that they ever paid it over but I know that every month an invoice was sent to the Port Authority from the TEF indicating what was outstanding and due," she said.
"The Port Authority has always refused to pay over ... I know that."
Assamba also said that she even brought the matter to the minister with portfolio responsibility for the Port Authority.
Attempts to contact Edmund Bartlett, minister of tourism, were unsuccessful.
tyrone.reid@gleanerjm.com