13198: On a hidden poll tax in Ayiti (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: "[iso-8859-1] Jean Poincy" <caineve@yahoo.fr>

It is common knowledge that Ayitians are very poor,
lack of everything and don't aspire to anything else
but to see the days go by. A greater injustice is
being done to them on the top of it and no one has
taken the time to analize and speak against it.

It is a hidden poll tax not understood as such. Once
being 18 of age and whenever afterwards, all Ayitian
citizens in need for an ID Card to identify themselves
as recognized citizens must pay a fee. It is 250
gourdes for all who can afford it or 20 gourdes for
those who can't. For making the ID Card a must is one
coercive way to make every citizen pay such a tax.

It's not a one time fee. This ID must be renewed every
year. Not having it will prevent one from undertaking
legal activities. However, the government does not
make it a point to collect it forcefully nor does it
have the means to do so. People may go some years
without renewing it, but once they do they have to pay
all the arrears to make the ID valid.

I qualified this fee as a poll tax because it must be
renewed every year for the same amount or at a
relatively flat rate for each citizen. That is the
main characteristic of a poll tax. Because the Ayitian
government does not forcefully collect the fee for the
ID card and the people tend to avoid it don't make it
a lesser evil.

Despite its characteristic to be a great source of
revenue for any government, a poll tax is not welcome
where people live in dire poverty nor where the people
have some purchasing power. For that matter, Ayiti is
the wrong place to have a poll tax, and disguising it
is the greater injustice which stems from the facts
that:

1) it is incorrect to force a citizen to make valid
his/her identity as a citizen on a yearly basis. I
could understand if it were every five or ten years
for a small processing fee.

2) the people are too poor to require of them a
payment for their existence especially when the
proceeds are not used for the greater good.

I can't understand why they agree with the principle
of paying for their existence without questioning the
justness of it despite their efforts to avoid it. In
every society where a poll tax was instituted, it
provoked social frictions or revolt. Margaret Thatcher
was a victim of it.


Ayiti has lived, lives and will live
Mozeb







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