The difficulties the nation confronts have been compounded by, among other factors, the continuing crime wave, increased fuel and electricity charges, the extreme financial difficulties of the Guyana Power and Light Inc. and falling prices for our major exports on the international market.

It must be conceded that the Government faces a Herculean task, being boxed into a corner by a multitude of huge problems, all of which if not resolved would have dire consequences on the national economy and the national developmental process.

These all require urgent attention and massive financial and human resources.

And now the war in Iraq will compound the difficulties and result in greater economic hardships for all developing nations.

It is therefore imperative that we as a people become more responsible and show more restraint and avoid antagonisms that would only aggravate an already delicate and extremely difficult situation. To shoot ourselves in the foot is the last thing we should begin thinking about.

Undoubtedly, financial allocations to enhance the crime fighting capacity of the security forces will take a big chunk of the expenditure of the national budget, and this will obviously have implications for spending in other essential areas like the social sector, infrastructure and drainage and irrigation.

Furthermore, measures will have to be taken to reduce the anticipated budget deficit to a reasonable level, and this will have a further effect on the ability on social sector spending.

However, in the preparation of the national budget, while it is imperative that there will be priorities, some effort must be dedicated towards bringing some economic relief to workers and the poorer and vulnerable sections of the population.

One such measure is revising the income tax threshold, which for three consecutive years has remained the same.

One of the ironies of this problem is that those who could hardly afford to pay have their taxes automatically deducted from their wages/salaries, while those who earn huge sums through their professions and could afford to pay, end up paying little or nothing to the Treasury.

During last year, President Bharrat Jagdeo had given assurances that the entire tax structure would be revised and consultants were here to examine the tax system to make revenue collection more effective and efficient, because many were escaping the tax net.

Many are therefore expecting that one of the focal points in this year's National Budget will be to provide relief through the upward revision of the income tax threshold.