The following are the major measures coming out of this year’s Budget.
• Increase in VAT from 15 per cent to 17.5 per cent for 18 months, expected to yield $124 million over a fiscal period; • Bus fares will be $2 from January 1, to yield $8.4 million over a year. • Dispensing fee for people having prescriptions filled at private pharmacies from next April.• Non-contributory pensions increased from $127 to $133 per week from next January 3, and the minimum contributory pension from $155 to $163 per week. Other contributory pensions to rise by 4.84 per cent across the board effective January 3. • No more tax-free allowances for travelling and entertainment for employees• Elimination of tax-free allowances for savings with credit unions and investment in mutual funds• Increase in excise tax on gasoline by 50 per cent to $0.5358 per litre• Rise in Immigration Department fees• Abolition of the environmental levy on imports• $6 million in additional marketing support for the Barbados Tourism Authority;• Establishment of a Tourism Loan Guarantee Facility to provide guarantees to hotels up to a total of $100 million;• Additional funding of $1.5 million to Fund Access for on-lending to small and micro-businesses;• Supply of water to registered farmers at the flat commercial rate;• Establishment of a Trust to the tune of $400 000 for the Richard Stoute Teen Talent contest;• Increase in welfare grants and food vouchers at a cost of $1.1 million;• Textbook Grant Scheme for primary schoolchildren at a cost of $1/2 million;• Government will no longer pay for students who have not met the matriculation requirements for UWI. Neither will it continue to pay for students who do not complete their undergraduate degrees in four years;• Reduction in fees payable by Public Service Vehicle operators by 50 per cent;• Retail liquor licence fees slashed by half;• Tax credit of 10 per cent of the cost of wages of a business to be applied against taxable income, beginning income year 2011.
