Opposition Leader Bishop Joseph Atherley (right) making his way into Parliament yesterday.
Barbadians will be called on to pay higher taxes when the time comes
for government to repay the bonds currently being offered to the
public.
Opposition Leader Bishop Joseph Atherley made this prediction
yesterday while speaking during the debate on the Barbados Optional
Savings Scheme (BOSS) Bill, 2020.
“What this amounts to is an attempt to borrow from public servants
with a promise to pay with interest a few years from now. Where does a
government get money to pay its debts in Barbados principally? So you
lend the government money today and they promise you interest on it
four years from now, and at that time they will tax you to do so! A
cut by any other name is still a cut.
“You all can sit there and try to fool the people of Barbados. My
responsibility is to paint the fuller picture. Tell Barbadians that
this is a loan, not an investment for them,” he said in the Lower
House yesterday.
Repeatedly saying it was not his intention to advise anyone not to
sign onto government’s BOSS programme, he nevertheless insisted there
were several risks public sector workers must consider before writing
on the dotted line.
“You say we are not cutting people’s salaries. So in four years’ time
they will get five per cent interest in investment. No reference to
the change in value of money overtime…The inflation rate is over four
per cent and likely to trend up in the next few years, so what you
earn today becomes subject to inflationary pressures down the road…a
cut is still a cut,” he stated, later arguing “when you put your money
out there, you may not get it back as you think.”
Atherley also questioned again why the bonds were only being sold to
public servants and not to the public.
“If these bonds are so attractive, why are they not being carried to
the public on the open market and why are public servants being made
the primary targets, or maybe they are not as attractive as we are
being made to think and maybe the government senses they will not get
ready acceptance out there,” he stated.
Atherley also questioned why persons were being forced to opt out of
the scheme rather than vice versa.
“Why does an optional savings scheme have a default position where you
are in the scheme and the choice is that you get out? Explain that to
me. What nonsense is that? Why can’t I simply sign in if I want to be
in…Lord knows the bureaucratic lethargy is such in Barbados that I may
sign out today and it may not come into effect eight months from now.
We know that.”
(JMB)