The town of Grenville is the venue for a peaceful march today, organised by the National Democratic Congress (NDC). They take to the streets to express the party and its supporters’ concern about what they describe as Grenada Regressive Tax Systems and the government’s failure to provide jobs, which were a key promise in the February 2013 General Elections campaign.
General Secretary of the NDC, Patrick Simmons said that the march, expected to involve the executive and a broad cross-section of its supporters, is to openly call for a change of the island´s unfair tax system, and at the same time draw to the government’s attention, the need to fulfill their promise of ‘Jobs for the People.’
“Most importantly, we will be calling for a fair tax system,” said Simmons, who claims that since the year started not only has the ruling New National Party Administration increased existing taxes, but they have also introduced new ones.
Simmons who served as Youth and Sports Minister during the NDC administration, and which did not win a constituency seat in the 19 February General Elections, said that the peaceful march which will start from Sendall Street at 2:30pm. Supporters will display placards and will chant about the impact of the taxes on their personal lives, while those who are unemployed will be demanding jobs.
“We believe that the current tax system is regressive, there is no equity in the tax system and at the same time this current administration is coming with them too frequently on the people. Property tax has doubled and now we are hearing of new ones. This needs to change. Something has to be done,” he said.
By Linda Straker
