I WILL GIVE the Hon. Minister of Finance kudos for a politically smart Budget, which demonstrates that there has been some responsiveness to the concerns of specific groups.
It was the perfect demonstration of give and take that I have ever seen in a Budget.
He dispensed the sweets and sorrow throughout the budget in such a way that it is hard to have consensus across the country about whether the Budget is good or bad.
You have on the one hand the dairy producers that are perhaps thinking their prayers have been answered and on the other hand soft and juice drink producers might feel that they have been dealt an unfair blow. In this middle of the two extremes perhaps are the ordinary citizens who once again will be forced to literally pay for this country’s debt directly out of their pockets.
It seems that for the public the Ministry of Finance has played a good game of be careful what you wish for. While we welcome the news that hopefully tax returns will soon be on their way, for many of us the fact that we have been further stripped of particular allowances means that there is little left to look forward to as it relates to future returns. We wished for the removal of the much despised solid waste tax; the Minister obliged and then summarily increased land tax.
The increase in the VAT was not rescinded and it is clear that all personal allowances are now something we should discuss as part of bygone days. More importantly the Minister has resurrected the cellphone tax, literally making Bajans pay for their favourite pastime. I remember commenting previously that soon the only thing left for this Government to tax will be the air we breathe. We are coming dangerously close to that threshold. I think that this Budget will test how “broad the backs of the Barbadians are”. If the sentiments on the ground that I have heard are reflective of the broader society the resounding refrain is “Lord have mercy!”
While I said before that I give the Minister of Finance kudos for a politically astute Budget I also find it quiet unfortunate. Rather than capitalising on what has been reported as an upswing in the economy and introduce measures to further stimulate the economy and promote growth the Government has delivered a Budget which is all about revenue grabbing. For this there should be no celebrations by stakeholders regardless of whether there was some small tidbit for them or not. The judgement on the Budget must be based on the extent to which the overall mix of measures will be good for the country.
Before I run out of space though, I cannot leave without congratulating the Leader of the Opposition. There clearly has been a bit of political maturing on both sides which has seen more sophisticated strategising than previously demonstrated. What the Leader of the Opposition did during her speech was not so much about exposing Cahill as distressing as that situation is but she has clearly thrown down the gauntlet by telling the Government that she is not afraid to attack the “clean hands” image this Government has attempted to portray. By calling attention to Cahill and the supposed favouring of Preconco and other purported questionable activities of Government ministers, Mottley is stripping away the image that the DLP has attempted to build of being squeaky clean when it comes to the Government’s business. It was a smart move and while not delivering the shock waves that she would have hoped for clearly shows that we have a thinking Opposition.
Shantal Munro-Knight is a development specialist and executive coordinator at the Caribbean Policy Development Centre. Email [email protected]
