High Personal Income Tax threshold and GST
By James Naipao
This is disgraceful and bringing poverty to the workers.
You need workers to get into SME. How can this happen?
Most workers are caged because high Personal Income Tax threshold and GST which allows workers keep working not knowing what will happen in the coming years. After the fortnight, in five days, fortnightly income are consumed by INCOME TAX and GST, and as this continues to eat away workers, there is nothing to save for early retirement that can enable workers to go into SME. Therefore, PNG has a huge public service aging population that is markedly poor.
If this nation wants be the ‘first richest black christian nation in the world’ then correct this immediately!
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There may be a merit to this graph or it might not. The person that put it up must explain but it makes sense too.
Let me put myself as an example here.
I have worked for the state as a Medical Officer (doctor) for 22 years now, and of this, 16 years as Otolaryngology Head & Neck Surgeon.
As a public officer,
1. 35% of my base salary is taxed as Income tax every fortnight,
2. 35% of my Overtime Allowance is taxed every fortnight,
3. 35% of my Domestic Allowance is taxed every fortnight,
4. 35% of my special domestic Allowance is taxed every fortnight.
5. I don’t claim my book Allowance so this money returns to the state every year,
6. The every small telephone allowance is also taxed at 35% every fortnight,
5. My bank does get its fees from my Personal savings too,
6. Every purchasing runs I do every fortnight, I pay a 10% as GST Tax,
7. With a few years left as a worker and if I plan on retirement, a retirement tax will be paid too,
8. After completing 15 years of public service, I am felt it was not necessary to take my furlough leave. It was too much of a risk to take it.
I am paid to work for the National Department of Health as Chief ENT Surgeon, and work also at Port Moresby General Hospital as Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgeon.
My unpaid job and a free service to the government and people of Papua New Guinea is teaching, supervising and mentoring forth and fifth year Medical Students coming through ENT, and doing the same for post-graduate training in Otolaryngology Head & Neck Surgery (ENT) at the School of Medicine & Health Sciences, UPNG as Senior Honorary Otolaryngology Head & Neck (ENT) Lecturer for 20 years. It is an unpaid job and I am absolutely happy with role I disperse freely, and will continue to do this.
I am on-call every second day too.
The thing that I see in my pay after all the expenses is that I look forward that the next payday must come very quickly.
There are similar stories like this out there in both the private and the public sector. My story here is similar to my colleagues in Health too.
Only when the GoPNG look at the value of the workers not as employees but as people who can contribute to nation economic development then, we will get it right.
PNG’s population is close to 9 million now. It will go past this soon. How many of these are workers/
Wouldn’t it be nice empowering these workers to go into SMEs to drive the economy of this nation, and concurrently free up the aging work force and this will drive towards employing the unemployed people to the workforce and making it a young workforce.
If and when 2 million people go into SMEs, prosperity will then reach this shore.
Whilst those reading this may say I am fortunate at where I am, but the strain at home when returning from home is unbearable. I am definitely sure, those lower cadre of workers are by a distance are unbearably suffering the worst.
DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT AND TAKEBACK PNG, AND MAKE PNG THE RICHEST BLACK CHRISTIAN NATION IN THE WORLD
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