A Salute to Woman

THE WEEKLY GLEANER | MARCH 24 - MAR CH 30, 2021 | www.jama ica-gleaner.com | I T AX ADMINISTRATION Jamaica (TAJ) continues to make it easier for persons to file and pay their taxes online. You can now pay taxes your way: You Choose! ■ TAJ Online: jamaicatax.gov.jm. ■ TAJ Mobile App ■ Mobile Tax Collection Unit ■ Direct Bank Transfer (DBT) ■ NCB Online Banking Currently, all major taxes and fees can be paid online such as Property Tax, Driver’s Licence Renewal and Motor Vehicle Certificate of Fitness Fee, traffic ticket fines and other business-related taxes. TO PAY ONLINE, PERSONS NEED: ■ An internationally accepted credit cards e.g. (MasterCard or Visa) ■ Email address ■ Taxpayer Registration Number (TRN) ■ Valuation Number (in reference of Property Tax) Taxpayers using the online service to file and pay taxes will save time andmoney by conducting these transactions from the convenience of their office, home, mobile devices, at any time. The online service also offers the benefit of reducing paperwork and will allow taxpayers to submit accompanying schedules via uploads from their payroll systems. HOW TO PAY ONLINE SIX (6) EASY STEPS Go to Tax Administration Jamaica (TAJ) website at www. jamaicatax.gov.jm. 1. LOGIN: On the home page of the website www.jamai- catax.gov.jm , click on the Login tab or the Client Login mini banner ad 2. SIGN IN: Enter username and password, if you already have an account to make payment. If you DO NOT have a login, create account to make payment (follow the instructions carefully). 3. MAKE A PAYMENT: Select ‘make a payment’, read the instructions then enter the payment information and contact information. 4. ENTER PAYMENT NOW: Select ‘Enter Payment Now’ to add the credit card details. Review the information dis- played. Using a Visa, MasterCard or Keycard credit card, enter the credit card data, making sure the information is correct. 5. PROOF OF PAYMENT: Once the payment is completed, you may email or print the Statement of Payment for your records. 6. SIGN OUT: Once you have completed the transaction, remember to sign out and close your browser. For further information, persons may contact the Tax Administration’s Customer Care Centre at 888-Tax-Help (888- 829-4357) toll free or visit the website at www.jamaicatax. gov.jm. Tax Administration Jamaica: Changing the way we do business! Elizabeth Morgan/ Contributor M ARCH 8 was commemorated as International Women’s Day (IWD) with the theme, ‘Women in Leadership: Achieving an Equal Future in a COVID-19 World’. At the multilateral level, the three international trade organisations, the WorldTrade Organization (WTO), the International Trade Centre (ITC); and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) are currently headed by women, one from the CARICOM region. The Caribbean is recognised by the International Labour Organization (ILO) as a region with a high percentage of female managers. The 2015 statistics showed Jamaica having one of the world’s highest percentage of female managers, and a recent report from the World Economic Forum, using ILO 2019 statistics, has Saint Lucia among the top eight countries in the world with the highest number of female managers. This is not usually reflected in pol- itics, although the region has had several women holding the post of head of government: Eugenia Charles, Dominica; Janet Jagan, Guyana; Portia Simpson Miller, Jamaica; Kamla Persad- Bissessar, Trinidad and Tobago; and, currently, Mia Mottley, Barbados. A number of women have held, and are also holding, ministerial portfolios, though women are still in the minor- ity in Cabinet appointments. In recent general elections, it does appear that more women are entering the polit- ical arena. Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago, I learnt, have a quota for women candidates presented in gen- eral elections. The CARICOM secretary general, Ambassador Irwin LaRocque, in his IWD remarks stated that the future is more promising when women are equally represented alongside men in leadership roles. As a note, CARICOM’s deputy secretary general is a woman, Ambassador Manorma Soeknandan of Suriname. WOMEN WITH MINISTERIAL PORTFOLIOS IN FOREIGN TRADE As an IWD encore, considering the theme of women in leadership at the national, regional and multilateral lev- els, I thought that I would highlight the women in the CARICOM region who currently have ministerial responsibility of the foreign trade portfolios in their countries. CARICOM heads, at their 32nd Inter-sessional Meeting, considered action required to generate economic recovery, with the aim to build back better, post COVID-19. Improving intra- and extra-regional trade will make a vital contribution to job creation and economic growth and development. The five female ministers holding this important portfolio are: 1. Senator Kamina Johnson Smith, minister of foreign affairs and foreign trade, Jamaica. Minister Johnson Smith, an attorney-at-law, with qualifications in international relations and commer- cial law, was appointed to this post in 2016, and reappointed in 2020. She is the first woman to be assigned this portfolio in Jamaica. She has been a senator since 2009. 2. Senator Paula Gopee-Scoon, min- ister of trade, industry and enterprise development, Trinidad and Tobago. Minister Gopee-Scoon is also an attor- ney. In another administration, she was a member of parliament and minister of foreign affairs. She was assigned the trade portfolio in 2015 and retained it in 2020. 3. Cheryl Sandra V. Husbands, MP, minister of foreign trade, Barbados. She was assigned this portfolio in 2018. Husbands has qualifications in inter- national trade policy. She is a business consultant who was president of the Barbados Small Business Association and of the Caribbean Association of Small and Medium Enterprises. 4. Sarah Flood Beaubrun, MP, minis- ter responsible for external affairs in the Office of the Prime Minister, Saint Lucia. She was assigned this portfolio in 2016. She held other ministerial portfolios in the past. Minister Beaubrun was also Speaker of the House and deputy per- manent representative of Saint Lucia to the United Nations in NewYork. She is an attorney. 5. Senator Wendy Colleen Phipps, minister of international trade, com- merce, consumer affairs and labour, St Kitts/Nevis. She was assigned this portfolio in June 2020. Amanagement consultant with training in mass com- munications, she was a vice-president of the OECS Business Council. In 2015, she was minister of health, community development, gender affairs and social services. Women have been lauded for their leadership during this pandemic. We look to these women’s further leader- ship as the region strives to contain the COVID-19 virus and, indeed, endeav- ours to increase exports of goods and services in order to recover and build back better. I am also taking this opportunity to salute all thewomen at the national and regional levels, in the public and private sectors, who are continuing the effort tomake progress in intra- and extra-re- gional trade in these challenging times. Elizabeth Morgan is a specialist in international trade policy and international politics. Making it easier to File & Pay Taxes The women trade ministers Senator Kamina Johnson-Smith 38 THE WEEKLY GL AN R | MARCH 24 - APRIL 24, 2021 | www.jamaica-gleaner co | WOMENS MONTH FEATURE