$7 000, yes I said $7 000 for a Kadooment costume. That is what one local Crop Over band sold a costume the other night for, and everybody wanta know who it is that could afford to buy a costume for that kinda money.
But what killing me, is that we got people ’bout here who quarrelling like the person spend their money. Them saying it is a waste of money, and them can’t wait til Kadooment Day to see who is this woman that could fork out $7 000 on a costume.
Boy, look, something wrong with wunna head. It is a common-sense thing; anybody who could spend $7 000 on a costume got money. Just like anybody who could buy a piece o’ art for ten million got money.
When you see Old Years Night, and them got places ’bout here with dinners for $1 000 a plate, that ain’t nothing for you and I to quarrel ’bout. Them people know who them catering to. Me and you is to quarrel when pig tail and mackerel gone up in the supermarket, not when Sandy Lane got a $1 000 function.
Anyhow, putting that aside, I does be more concerned ’bout the people who buying costumes at $500 who really can’t afford it, I talking ’bout people who ain’t got macaroni and corn beef and them light and water in arrears.
You watch and you gine see, that nuff of these same people who worrying ’bout who buy the $7 000 costume but wearing them $500 costume, gine can’t send to school them li’l children when the school term start, cause them ain’t got no money to buy school uniform.
Anyhow, on another note, I see that the Barbados Revenue Authority (BRA), saying that organisers of shows, tent managers and band leaders included, must pay VAT on all complimentary tickets. In other words, if I holding a show and I give away a free ticket, I have to pay VAT on that ticket.
I telling wunna, we trying real real hard to kill Crop Over. We ain’t satisfied with eating a li’l golden egg once a year, we wanta eat the goose that laying the egg.
My question, though, is how do you work out the VAT on a free ticket? And don’t tell me it will be on the market value of the show, because if a store in town has a sale and sells a stove at half price, it pays VAT on the price the stove was sold at not on the market price. Plus, ticket prices range from early bird to VIP to where you sitting.
Another question is what happens to all those entertainment venues which advertise “ladies free” before a certain time, would they now have to pay VAT on all the ladies who enter free?
Now BRA says this is in the law, and you suppose to pay VAT on free things. So what happens if one of my doctor or lawyer friends give me some free advice, advice which they would normally charge $100 for, would they now have to pay VAT on that freeness?
What BRA is saying, is that it is cheaper or better for a show organiser to throw away tickets or for a Kadooment band to throw away any costumes they did not sell, rather than give them away. So in other words, if that $7 000 costume was not sold and that band had to give it away they would have to pay the VAT on $7 000, which is just over $1 000, but if they throw it in the garbage they pay nothing. See ya.
E-mail: madderic@hotmnail.com twitter@madderic
