Dear Editor,
This is an appeal to the Minister of Finance. The recent introduction of the 14% VAT on education and educational materials is creating extreme adversity for me. I am a student, studying to fulfill my lifelong ambition to educate myself. I have taken a loan at a Bank to pay for my courses and now I have to find 14% more than I catered for. This extra money will have to come out of my salary, which as it is, barely does for me and my family for a month. This only serves to create an extra burden on me.
The result of this VAT on education is that I may have to drop out of school as I cannot afford to pay the extra money, nor can I find an extra job to earn the money needed to pay the VAT. This is certainly not the “Good Life” that this Government has promised. In fact, I am now worse off than before as I am no longer in a position to gain a promotion at work and am unable to earn the extra money that the VAT demands.
Many students have already stopped coming to classes. They have dropped out of the school as they cannot afford to pay the VAT. This VAT is supposed to earn some $350,000,000 from the tuition fees that are paid to private schools. However, at the rate that students are leaving the private schools, the earnings from the VAT on education and educational materials will result in much less than expected earnings. It will also result in a less educated nation. Many of these students, who are affected by the VAT on education, will be voting for the first time in the 2020 elections and they will surely remember you and your Party as being responsible for shattering their dreams of having a higher education and any chance of promotions at their job.
This Government says that it will review the VAT on education in 2018, but by then it will be too late for me and many like me. The VAT on education needs to be removed now. Any tax on education is disgraceful and sends a message that the Government is not interested in having an educated Nation. There is a saying: “While the grass is growing, the horse is starving”. This is what will be happening if the VAT is not removed before 2018. Please remove the VAT on education and educational materials now.
Yours faithfully,
Jonathan Yearwood
Struggling Private School Student
