Economist, Ryan Straughn says that the June 2016 economic press release from the Central Bank is proof that the Government’s home-grown economic programme is not working.
Straughn, the Barbados Labour Party’s candidate for Christ Church East Central in the next elections, in a statement released yesterday on behalf of the Party, contended that that report clearly states three things – that the foreign exchange reserves have not been restored or stabilised; that the fiscal deficit has not been reduced to sustainable levels; and that the foundation for a sustainable growth path has not been laid.
“These were the three primary objectives by which Minister Sinckler stated that the success of the adjustment programme was to be measured. From no perspective, using any yardstick, can they be deemed as successful,” he maintained.
Straughn also used the statement to raise the alarm of new taxes pos-sibly being included in today’s Budget to be delivered by Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs, Christopher Sinckler, contending that any such taxes will do more harm to the Barbados economy than good. He said the Opposition Barbados Labour Party (BLP) has been “reliably informed” that the Democratic Labour Party Government is planning to implement a new tax on both imports and locally produced goods, designed to collect in excess of $120 million, in order to bolster the declining foreign reserves.
The former president of the Barbados Economics Society maintained that if this proves to be true, there is no sector or any other special interest group in this country that can afford to pay $120 million in additional taxation.
“…We feel that to impose a new tax on the Barbadian public, intended to raise more than $120 million from imports and locally produced goods, would lead to greater hardship on the very households already struggling to make ends meet. There will be an immediate and inevitable increase in the cost of living when Bajan wages have been frozen for more than six years,” he said.
His comments came as he also said that the BLP believes that the Government will move to extend the tax on bank assets which, he argued, if implemented would put more strain on customers. Straughn is adamant that the increased taxation imposed since 2008, has done little for the country. He maintained that as taxes have increased, the quality of public services delivered by Government has decreased.
“Some of these services include the extremely poor collection of garbage, lack of access to water in rural and suburban Barbados, poor roads across the country, poor health and drug services at our polyclinics and hospitals, just to name a few. Yet, the Government continues to ignore the pleas of sectoral leaders and ordinary Barbadians, households and businesses alike, that taxation and their brand of austerity is harming our prospects as a nation,” the economist added.
He is therefore calling on Government to rethink imposing these rumoured new taxes or other creative revenue measures on Barbadians, contending that the evidence is clear that their approach of more and more taxes has failed each and every time over the past eight years.
“This exclusive tax approach has only served to take money from our pockets, stifle growth and led to a deterioration in our foreign exchange position,” he argued.
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