JAMAICANS can’t be blamed for believing that generally speaking the New Year will be tougher than the one just ended.

The recent revision of the Government’s highly controversial third tax package in nine months can’t conceal the reality that life has gotten harder for everyone.

While the tax revision sought to lighten the burden on the poorest among us, the weight will still be considerable.

The more well-off and wealthy will be complaining just as bitterly as a result of increased rates of income tax, etc.

Higher taxes haven’t come in a vacuum. As we have repeatedly said in this space, Jamaica has been hit as hard as any country by the global economic recession. Earning from the bauxite/alumina industry — a cornerstone of the national economy — has been slashed in half, and employment in the sector has suffered a similar fate. Scores of business have been closed or downscaled, leading to widescale job losses, not just in the formal business sector but in the informal economy as well.

Falling revenue has meant that the Government — already hamstrung by decades of debt — has been left with no option but to seek to renew a borrowing relationship with the International Monetary Fund. The increased taxes are not simply about raising more money for Government but also a necessary indicator to the proposed lender of the intent to keep Jamaica’s housekeeping in order.

In the prevailing atmosphere, sport won’t be high on the agenda of the Bruce Golding administration. With so many competing necessities to be addressed — not least education, national security and health — it would be pointless to expect the Government to find money to buttress sport in the short term.

Likewise, with much of private business under pressure as never before, sponsorships long taken for granted have already been curtailed and even wiped out. That situation could well get worse.

Also, gate receipts at sporting events will almost certainly trend downwards in real terms in the New Year.

Yet sport cannot be ignored. On the contrary, it needs to thrive.

The experience of the Beijing Olympics in the Summer of 2008 and the Berlin World Championships last year reaffirmed the importance of the sector to the building of the Jamaica brand in the international marketplace and to the sense of well-being and nationhood.

Additionally, even in the absence of the long-promised national sports policy, the experience of individual professionals in a number of sporting disciplines — not least athletics, football and cricket — was a timely reminder of the massive earning and employment potential should we put our minds to it.

The situation cries out for innovation and creativity by Government, private sector and sports administrators working hand-in-hand.

In that regard, this newspaper notes the recent detailed article ‘Trelawny Stadium: The considerations and the Future’ written by Sport Minister Ms Olivia Grange, giving the Government’s reasons for its decision not to hand over the Trelawny Stadium to the University of Technology.

Inherent in Ms Grange’s comments was the recognition of the potential of sport and entertainment as an important plank of economic development. And also the role a facility such as the Trelawny Stadium can play in that drive. We applaud wholeheartedly her commitment to that ideal which, as she correctly pointed out, will enhance the quality of life of Jamaicans and provide employment and investment opportunities.