People’s Campaign March To Be Held Tomorrow
[Updated] The “People’s Campaign for Equality, Jobs and Justice” will hold their March & Rally tomorrow [May 1], with entertainment starting at 11.00am at Victoria Park.
The Campaign was launched earlier this month, with flyer being passed out at the launch saying, “The People’s Campaign for Equality, Jobs, and Justice is a coalition of concerned people of goodwill who have joined together to give voice to the condition of the country.
“As a group we are concerned with the growing frustration and mistrust of the political process in view of the continued rise in unemployment. growing gap between the haves and have not’s and the unequal burden of sacrifice being placed on the lowest and least.”
Video of the launch on April 17th:
Committee members include Reverend Nicholas Tweed, Keith Simmons, BIU President Chris Furbert, BPSU President Jason Hayward, Dr Michael Charles, Linda Meinzer, Molly Burgess, LaVerne Furbert and Dorita Rogers.
The group plans to present the Government with a “People’s Manifesto” that will “set the standard of expectation outlined by the people of Bermuda.”
Update 4.19pm: An Age Concern spokesperson said, “Age Concern Bermuda is as an organization dedicated to advocacy for the rights and concerns of seniors. We view quality healthcare that is accessible and affordable to all and equal rights, where age is not a barrier to access to services, capital and/or employment, as being in harmony with our aims and objectives.
“Although we are not a part of the coalition of the People’s Manifesto we encourage our members to participate in the march on May 1, 2014 to show support for the coalition’s efforts. Specifically, in those matters that align with Age Concern’s mandate and for whatever personal reasons our supporters wish to embrace.”
The last time in history people rallied and gave their government a manifesto they then elected a leader that meet all their demands.
This manifesto has since been published into a well-known book.
Red is the international labor color!
I’m going because we don’t need equally jobs and justice.
What?!? Did that make sense in your head?
I did not say anything about the color red, and before you cheer you may wish to look into the background of some of these “labour” groups.
Socialism in any form is still Socialism.
typing too fast, I’m going because we don’t have equality, justice and jobs.
STAND UP FOR JOBS AND EQUALITY>>>>PEOPLE POWER !!
COME MARCH FOR ALL THAT IS IMPORTANT FOR THE PEOPLE
STAND UP< STAND STRONG>>
PEOPLE HAVE A VOICE PEOPLE MUST HOLD THEIR GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABLE>>>TRANSPARENCY AND OPENNESS AND HONESTY>>>WHAT A WAY TO GO>>>>
If you all want something to do, go out and create jobs!!!!!!!!! Stop making excuses and blaming others.
Stuff like this seems to be separating us more and more. Come on Bermuda, wake up.
Thank you! As an employer and ethical small businessperson, this whole concept is totally absurd! It’s a gathering of folks that feel entitled, that simple. F them.
Get over it, it’s called Democracy and everywhere else in the world people are doing or would do the same thing, Bermuda is catching up with the rest of the world gone are the days when the people are intimidated by the Powers that be. Did you feel the same when the Lynch Mob marched against Dr. Brown or were you part of it?
And, I’m sorry to say that Age Concern has lost my company’s support. That’s a shame!
And there is the problem with Bermuda right there.
Don’t speak up or else i’ll put your mortgage! (That is basically what you just said)
A union march in sheeps clothing, organised social disorder coming this summer first this then a sit in next week all organised by core opposition supporters. More interested in regaining power and destabilizing the island than coming up with any bi-partizan solutions.
So did you feel the same when the Lynch Mob marched against Dr. Brown or were you part of it?
Bermuda has the best tax system in the world! Who is going to finance the demands of the Manifesto?
The best tax system for whom? For the corporates, that pay little to no tax, maybe. For those who are able to earn tax free income from their investments it’s great.
It’s not so good for those lower wage earns subjected to the regressive taxes on groceries, where those who make the least pay a larger percentage of their wages for the same basket of groceries.
The basket of groceries at a base cost of $200 with a 20% tax applied represents a tax of $40. For the person making $200 a week, a $40 tax bill on $200 of groceries represents a 20% tax against their weekly earnings ($40/$200 = 20%). For the person making $400 a week it’s a 10% tax, for the person making $4000 a week it’s a 1% tax.
So it’s the “best tax system in the world” for whom again??
The math in this post is so wrong it’s ridiculous.
Please let me know if you need me to explain the math to you. I know some people get confused by fractions and percentages but I’m sure I could help you get comfortable with them in a couple of hours over coffee.
On a more serious note, please feel free to explain where the math is wrong. The dollar amounts you use for a basket of goods or a weekly (or monthly, or annual) wage is irrelevant, as is the duty rate. It’s incontrovertible that a flat percentage applied to a fixed dollar amount will result in different taxation rates (relative to earnings) for different levels of earnings.
I challenge you to prove otherwise and show how the duty applied to groceries is not a regressive tax.
OK I’m lifting this directly from another website, because they have said it so much better than me and I’ve modified it to relate to Bermuda:
A progressive tax is defined as a tax whose rate increases as the payer’s income increases. That is, individuals who earn high incomes have a greater proportion of their incomes taken to pay the tax.
A regressive tax, on the other hand, is one whose rate increases as the payer’s income decreases.
Payroll tax is the only tax in Bermuda whose rate is tied directly to income. It is a progressive tax, according to the definition above; individuals and families with high incomes are taxed at a higher rate than individuals and families with low incomes.
Other taxes like duties are often called regressive taxes in order to make them compare poorly with income tax in terms of their “fairness”. The rationale is that individuals or families at the low end of the income spectrum spend a higher proportion of their income than those at the high end. Combined with the fact that duty tax is tied to consumption rather than income, this leads some to the conclusion that low-income individuals and families pay a greater proportion of their incomes in duty taxes, therefore duty tax is regressive. You’re supposed to read “regressive” as “unfair”.
There are problems with the way “progressive” and “regressive” are used to describe tax structures.
None of the “regressive” taxes that are compared with the income tax are tied directly to income. Using inconsistent criteria for defining terms that are represented to be opposites hinders honest discussion.
Calling a tax on consumption “regressive” requires that one assume that an individual spends all of his income in ways that are subject to the tax. Otherwise, the reasoning that finds “regressive” taxes unfair gets even more farfetched.
When declaring “regressive” consumption-based taxes unfair in comparison with progressive taxes, proponents of progressive taxes overlook the fact that the EU, home of some of the most, erm, progressive societies in the world, is perfectly happy with its 17.5 percent VAT, an entirely consumption-based tax.
Just about any tax, including property, luxury, and inheritance taxes, can be declared “regressive” if the sample group is chosen carefully. Dishonest? Probably. But only because the use of the word “regressive” when applied to taxation has its own problems with accuracy.
Curiously enough in my community, many of those who are proponents of the income tax on the premise that a progressive tax is “more fair” are also proponents of a state-sponsored lottery, which of course tends to have the same effect on the different income categories as a “regressive” tax. Apparently some “regressive” taxes are less unfair than others.
PS The source of this is Charles Taylor, with slight modifications to make relevant to Bermuda.
Higher earners spend considerably more than lower earners, thus the equal % they pay in ‘regressive’ taxes amounts to a considerably larger real dollar contribution to the tax pool.
I don’t deny that higher earners spend more than lower earners and have a much higher tax bill in absolute $ terms. I don’t have so much of a problem with the duty on those items that people spend their discretionary income on. There is often a wealth of choice available in those goods categories that people spend their discretionary income on, from books to furniture to boats. So go ahead and tax those non-essential goods at whatever rates are deemed reasonable to meet the government’s objectives. I do think that converting the tax from an import duty to a point of sale tax for retail goods would provide great relief for retailers and might help spur growth in that sector.
I was specifically referring to groceries, to the food a family needs to survive, when I raised the issue of regressive taxation. I don’t know the dollar cost of groceries that the average person NEEDS to survive for any given week. I do know that whatever that figure is (and I’m talking the amount of groceries required to just meet the basic nutritional needs of the average person) the taxation on that given amount is regressive.
My point was that our tax system, which Sam George purported to be the best in the world, certainly isn’t the best for everyone. I don’t know what the solution is for a regressive grocery tax, but I can still consider something a problem without yet knowing what the solution might be. If enough people recognise a problem then we can work together to find a solution or find the people who can help us craft a solution. Perhaps food stamps or perhaps certain staple goods are completely duty free and required by the government that stores sell them at cost. I’m not an economist so I don’t know the pros and cons of these various options. But there are other options.
Take a close look at the cost of bread, milk, vegetables next time you go shopping. How many people in Bermuda can’t even tell you the price of a gallon of milk or a loaf of bread? How many people throw away their grocery receipts without even looking at them, they swipe their cards, sign their names and say I don’t need the receipt? for some people that sounds outrageous, but I know I work with plenty of people in that category (this applies to many people in IB by the way regardless of whether they are from elsewhere or Bermudian like myself). There is a clear disconnect between those that don’t even know the price of bread and milk and those that agonise over how in the world they will feed themselves and their families this week.
For one thing, you’re assuming that the person making $400 a week keeps the rest of his salary and doesn’t spend it. He does spend it. And the person making $4,000 a week spends it as well.
It’s a system that gives people the freedom to decide what they spend their earings on. And, a big benefit, import taxes or point of sale taxes are inexpensive and easy to collect. Income taxes are not.
Your comment has nothing to do with the math Sandy, which I’m sure you can agree wasn’t “ridiculous”. I’ve clearly focused on the regressive nature of the taxation system as it applies to groceries. People don’t generally have the “freedom” to decide whether they want to buy sufficient food to meet their basic nutritional needs. How people choose to spend their discretionary income once the basic needs of food and shelter are met is their prerogative.
I haven’t mentioned income tax at all and am not proposing that over import duty. I think that a point of sale taxes would be helpful to the retail sector. The thrust of my argument is that cost of groceries is overly punitive on those that can least afford it. Part of the problem is the regressive nature of the tax structure on groceries and part of the problem is the greed of the grocery store owners.
Ask people in the know at Dunkley’s or B&V about how they were held to the fire by the grocery stores when the 10% price reductions were put into place. MarketPlace was ready to pull all of Dunkley’s chiller units out if Dunkley’s didn’t accept that they had to bear the brunt of the price reductions. One of the points of the march, based on what I heard them say at T.N. Tatem last week, is about shared sacrifices and putting people over profit. Perhaps there are certain categories of groceries (a basic, nutritionally wholesome basket of goods) that don’t attract any tax or that must be provided by grocery stores (or even by the government) at cost.
The funny thing is that in 2011, while sitting as a PLP Senator, Ms. Furbert claimed that poverty was not new and definitely was not increasing in Bermuda.
But now 18 months after her Party was voted out she is all of a sudden concerned about inequality and poverty.
Ms Furbert, you can respond anyway you like but the Senate transcript is there for all to see.
Oh and just to remind you of what you said back then here are some quotes from that Senate sitting:
The rich will get richer and the poor will get poorer, she said, adding: “But now all of a sudden we’re looking at poverty in Bermuda. Why?”
She said the issue had been discussed in previous PLP platform speeches, dating back to 1968.
“This is nothing new. There really is no increasing problem of poverty in Bermuda. Poverty has always existed and people have always looked at solutions.
“There is a problem, but I don’t think it’s increased.”
Sen Furbert said there was “a tendency by some in our community to highlight poverty” but Bermuda was suffering no more now compared to the past.
There are some in our community who would have us believe that poverty became a problem in Bermuda when the PLP came into power and that no one is looking at ways to eradicate the problem. The poor will never be eradicated. The poor will always be with us.”
Sen Furbert said a study should instead be commissioned to count how many flat-screen TVs each household had as her grandchildren “not only have their own rooms but also their own TVs and computers”.
She said 90 percent of homes in Bermuda owned a computer and 95 percent owned cellphones, adding: “That’s not a country suffering from poverty.”
At one point she commented how she was “absolutely amazed” that she saw so many clothes hanging on washing lines in Grenada.
She said: “Most Bermudians own washers and dryers, if not they go to laundromats, you don’t even see washing lines here anymore.”
Grenada had a 35 percent unemployment level, but there was no gang violence and had only been one murder there this year, she said. Sen Furbert said this proved that an increase in crime wasn’t related to poverty, adding: “I consider the Mafia to be a gang, but the reason they’re shooting isn’t because they are poor.”
In other words you don’t care now as you didn’t care in 2011. The only thing you care about is the Party that is now in power.
Ouch.
Perhaps you don’t realise that between 2011 and 2013 Bermuda lost 3172 jobs, which is 50% higher than the job losses between 2009 and 2011 (2121).
It seems quite reasonable to expect that poverty levels were exacerbated by the increasing job losses in the last two years.
It’s quite possible that what Ms Furbert said in 2011 was true regarding the level of poverty at that time relative to previous periods in our history. What Ms Furbert said doesn’t change the fact that a much larger portion of our population is suffering far more now than they did just two years ago.
Very selective years you’re pulling there. Maybe you need to buy us all a coffee and help us understand why.
Sorry those are the only years available in the latest Employment Brief issued by the Department of Statistics, which is what I had at hand yesterday. Those years were also relevant to the time period in Sad’s comment. If you have more data feel free to post here or point readers in the direction of where they can find more data for themselves. Thanks.
Where were these people when the PLP was writing all the work permits for foreign workers and then when PLP was destroying our economy through their exonophobic laws and behaviour, driving International Business out of here, creating massive unemployment between 2008 – 2012??
HOLD UP WAIT A MINIUTE, Writing work permits for foreign workers then being XENOPHOBIC in one sentence, that’s an OXYMORON, Dreamer !!!!!!!!!!
I think the school of thought is that the PLP granted lots of work permits for low skilled jobs (cheap labour) but were unfriendly to the IB sector.
So being XENOPHOBIC is class distinction, what if they were friendly to the IB sector and not to work permits to foreign workers would they still be XENOPHOBIC? And IB sectors come and go where they find the best bang for their buck just like the low skilled (cheap labour) and when the money dries up here they would migrate somewhere else like a herd of caribou.
Isn’t it supposed to rain tomorrow?
Any excuse to leave work, right? Just let the OBA do what they need to do.
I look forward to this group joining with the OBA (since they have man of the same aims and share a theme colour).
Clearly this group could never wear green or blue and support any of the old parties that left Bermuda in such a sorry state.
Er, many of the same aims.
Darn autocorrect.
you do a “beyond amazing job” we are all very grateful.
Marching around wont do any good other than exercise your legs..
It worked for Martin Luther King.
The organizer is a foreigner here on a work permit,I don’t’ get it.Why is there not a Bermudian behind this?
Hey, it shouldn’t just be a Bermudian. Should be a REAL Bermudian. Or a GRASSROOTS Bermudian that would be e’en more baddaa.
Or even a son or daughter of the soil ! !
Well now Coffee ain’t to strong on the ol’feet no moe , I guess I is gonna have ta polish up me ol’ cedar stick an come on out an support my brothers an sista’s . Ummm got ah ol’ Norf Willage red jersey dat Ralph Gumbo Bean Sr. give me way back in the late ’70′s early ’80s um mum fore he join up wit de hotels international football club . I guess I’ll see all you lot deer .
All by design.
Good luck “real Berumdians.”
Mark my words.
$800 million garners much.
Ps.
Banks locally see and saw 12 Million leave Bermuda last year to countries in the Carribean (where Bermuda doth not lie).
Kum buy yah…..
Take Mr. Furbert out and I may understand your mission and goals!
Furberts.
So how long is this march? Are workers who work for the government suppose to get paid while marching? How will march generate jobs?
nothing more than wanting to move Labor day to May 1st.
It is interesting all those opinions that are anti-Bermudian hide behind false names; some of them even own business that are open in their contempt towards Bermudians and even boast that they don’t hire Bermudians; yet they want our dollars; they want the Bermudian to spend in their business concerns. Well you should not get one cent. Today we march tomorrow we boycott. This a conflict between two Bermuda’s; if you are indifferent to our pain our economic dislocation; next time it will be your turn.