LIMITATIONS TO ECONOMIC GROWTH

Sir,

How much money does it take to run the different government ministries and departments? It is no secret that almost half of the money collected by government through our painful tax system goes to funding the wage bill, and in no time the wage bill will definitely spill over to more billions per year. Why is it so difficult for government to pull itself out of the cash-flow challenges? The thing is, besides the domestic and external loans, government generates almost all of its money through taxes. To cash in more money, it always looks at what else or what other goods and services as well as economic agents it can include to its list of taxable items.

Money

We are tax items and the more money people generate in the economy, the more government sinks into their pockets. The tax burden on the economically active people and their businesses is simply too high, and is increasingly becoming a limiting instrument to economic growth and prosperity in the country.

Value

The problem is that even with such a heavy-handed tax system, a very low percentage of the money goes to the provision of real public goods and services that can improve people’s lives and add value to the economy. Had this not been the case, COVID-19 would have found our healthcare system in better shape than what it found. And another truth is that the country needs real industries to generate the income that government desperately needs to pay for the inefficient civil servants it keeps accumulating. It needs a real private sector working class and business owners to turn the economy into prosperity. Tax upon tax will not grow the economy, but will only give government more money to waste and more reason to increase the public sector.

Profit

Let us see more of the tax being paid by individuals and the private sector going into value creation and profit making development programmes in the kingdom. Taking money from the people and private sector to maintain or expand the public sector will only drain more money from the economy and discourage people from starting their own businesses to drive economic growth in the country.

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