Editorial | Shaw must ensure tax relief for farm lands

Audley Shaw is obviously having a different perspective on things as the minister for industry, commerce, agriculture and fisheries, than when he had command of the finance portfolio. For instance, he's now keenly aware of the vast tracts of arable land that stand fallow, as he noted in his relation to travelling to a conference in Argentina.

" ... When I was flying across the South American continent, all I could see is production," he told farmers at a recent agricultural exposition in St Mary. "Everywhere, something was being produced ... Where you don't see crops growing, you see cattle. When I fly over Jamaica, I am tired to see idle lands."

So, the new agriculture minister wants to bring these lands back into production, arguing that agriculture, which employs over 200,000 people, or one fifth of Jamaica's work-force, could be a big engine, helping to return to the five and six per cent growth it enjoyed in the 1950s and '60s. He is perhaps right, given the recent analysis by the IMF's resident representative in Jamaica which shows the strong correlation over the past decade between agriculture's performance and economic growth. When agriculture does well, so does the broader economy.

What Mr Shaw hasn't yet done, as to be fair he hasn't had much time to do, is to outline a strategy to encourage greater utilisation of idle farm lands and stimulate growth in the sector. There is one thing, however, that he can do to help stimulate use of idle lands: ensure that farmers get the tax breaks to which they are entitled by law.

Under the property tax rules, Jamaicans are entitled to a 50 per cent rebate on the assessed value of land if they show that the property is being used substantially for agriculture, verified by the Rural Agricultural Development Authority. But such rebates afforded at the authority of the finance ministry, which until last month was headed by Mr Shaw, operating on the recommendation of a Land Tax Relief Board.

Board still idle

However, as this newspaper reported recently, this review and advisory board has not operated for more than a year, since the end of 2016, when, apparently, the appointment of its members came to an end. The members were neither reappointed nor new ones named.

Farmers seeking this property tax entitlement, as they have been for 15 months, remain in limbo. Mr Shaw must insist of Nigel Clarke, his successor at the finance ministry, as well as the other ministries and agencies that are relevant to the process, that a new Land Tax Relief Board be urgently appointed. It's a low hanging fruit for ministerial action.

What about Kingsley Thomas?

The controversy of the government's plan to name the tolled North-South Highway in honour of the former prime minister, Edward Seaga, has abated, but in Jamaica's often politically-charged environment it is unlikely to be completely dead. We expect officials and supporters of the opposition People's National Party (PNP) to rekindle the argument that Mr Seaga opposed the spending on the highway and that work on it commenced during the premiership of the former PNP leader Portia Simpson Miller.

Prime Minister Andrew Holness has defended the naming of the highway on the grounds not only of Mr Seaga's broad contribution to Jamaica, but of his efforts in the development of the two areas directly connected by the highway: Kingston, the capital, and the north shore town of Ocho Rios. Fair enough, perhaps.

We found curious, though, throughout the controversy and the many alternative names suggested, no mention was made of Kingsley Thomas. Maybe no one remembered.

Mr Thomas was CEO of the Development Bank of Jamaica and chairman of the National Housing Trust during the mid-1990s into earlier parts of the 2000s. He was the big ideas man of the PNP administration of the period

Importantly, Kingsley Thomas was the conceptualizer of the Highway 2000 work of roads, as was pivotal in the construction of the first segment, by its French concessionaire, Bouyges, that runs east to west, from Portmore to near May Pen in Clarendon. He also left blue prints for north-south roads and for their connection in a loop in the west of the island. He may be worthy of a lay-by being named in his honour.