The government delivered the much anticipated Financial and Budgetary Proposal for 2011. The unprecedented financial support to the cultural industry in the amount of 50 millions dollars financed over fiver years, and the commitment to integrating an alternative energy solution are the notable deliverables. We are told it is a tax free budget. Read full…
The government delivered the much anticipated Financial and Budgetary Proposal for 2011. The unprecedented financial support to the cultural industry in the amount of 50 millions dollars financed over fiver years, and the commitment to integrating an alternative energy solution are the notable deliverables.
We are told it is a tax free budget.
It seems the government has focused on developmental policies this time around.
A pity we could not adopt some of these polities when money was plentiful.
The cultural support is well need. Hopefully that same support will be passed onto up and coming artist. The alternative energy plan has been with use since the Iadb loan so nothing new their. The increase in allowance for alternative energy system will be much enjoyed by people who can afford it. The enhance to bushy park to a fia formal 3 circuit will bring in some much need sport tourism. The budget was ok. most of the measures won’t reach the ordinary man. There been really been no ease but also no extra burden. so I guess we can be happy about the latter
We are not in a recession, it is not a ” global economic downturn” or any such b.s euphemisms… This is a multi trillion dollar global ponzi scheme about to go pop… Neither political party can save us now. Rome burns and Nero is fiddling away.
I hate to say,”I told you so”, but I told you so. Read my comment that were posted on July 1, 2011:
Caswell Franklyn | July 1, 2011 at 12:25 PM | I think all of the persons making comments on this post is missing the point. The notices that you received recently are not tax demand notices: they merely tell you what value the Land Tax Department has placed on your property for tax purposes.
Taxpayers can object to the valuation, but better yet, they should be lobbying the Minister of Finance to lower the rate or abolish land tax period. Next door in St. Lucia there is no land tax so it is not unheard of.
In Barbados, no tax is charged on land valued up to $150,000; thereafter a rate of 0.10% is charged on the excess up to $400,000; anything over that is charged at a rate of 0.45% up to $1million; in excess of a million the rate is 0.75%.
In order to keep the dollar value of the at last year’s level, Government could increase the deductible of $150,000 and then lower the % rate charged. I suggest that is what the country should be calling on the Government to do. They must know by now that the people, even their people are fed up with all these increases.
I listened to much of the speech and I have now read the entire document. My first reaction is true to form and very much predictable but that would be too everyday and falling into the trap for which superficiality works like a magnet drawing the uninformed.
It is against that background that I would first wish to congratulate the Minister of Finance for a cleverly strung together budget in which he demonstrated that his political avarice far outweighs his economic prudence. One may say it was a cautious budget, but the best overall phrase that may be attributed is that it had promised much more than it has delivered; in essence it is a ‘promissory budget’.The presentation by the Minister of Finance failed to touch the woes that challenge Barbadians in any substantive way far less reach into the homes and attempt to appease their suffering. It is true that his initiatives on land taxes and the tax concessions mounted for those youthful computer technicians is was warming despite late in coming.
There is nothing in the budget to really suggest outside of looking at the prospectus of becoming more environmentally friendly, that the Minister is serious about dampening demand for imports and especially in the energy consumption sectors.
Moreover, there is absolutely nothing in the budget that addresses the real issues hurting Barbadians with rising food costs other than his habitual raising of a promise or two. I do accept that that things unfold in parts and as the Minister said with habitual repetition, “further details on that too will be revealed shortly.” There is no doubt of my disappointment that it was a budget that wanted to attract much more than it wanted to ameliorate or soften the impact of any suffering that Barbadians have to bear for a longer period than they would want.
The initial and constant referencing to the global environment and to the status of the USA and European countries was not far fetched; however, the Minister’s wanting to come to the conclusion that Barbados operates comparable to small economies is grossly misleading and one needs to assess the starting points of Barbados in contradistinction to the starting points of those small states he refers to since the onset of the global recession.
Would the Minister pray tell me, apart from shifting some thresholds in terms of taxes and increasing the punitive sums that persons would be obligated to pay, what in his statement is remarkably different to suggest the forging of a new economy? Will the boys on the block benefit or the housewife who is struggling to pay rent, feed three children, and then send them school be able to cope? I think not and clearly the ‘bread and butter’ issues have not been considered in this budget.
Accepting the competitiveness of the international business sector, is there any proposal that lifts the confidence of the sector or is there greater reliance upon the promises suggested which are really not distant from the promises made at the end of 2007 and the beginning of 2008? Surely, Barbadians will travel with any Minister of Finance, but not only must there be a claim that a goal exists somewhere down the road, there must be signposts to keep persons on the pathway. This budget is a preparatory budget for a general election that will be called sooner rather than later (not beyond July 2012) and the Minister clearly illustrated his political acumen while laving sedate and propensity for outlining a really progressive economic and financial future for the growth of Barbados. These are my first impressions and I see nothing that would make me recant on what I have herein enclosed. This is a promissory budget but one that gets a thumbs down from me.
I didn’t hear it, but is there an expansion of the non-VAT basket of goods?
Text of the budget updated to the blog.
Thing the commerce minister is increase the list himself. so it not a budgetary measure.
Interesting to note that Mia Mottley gently tapped the table when Sinckler announced the initiative for the cultural industry.
We all know that culture is near and dear to his heart.
there was one actual cost saving measure done by the government in this budget. it was The dematerialisation of all Government Paper with effect from January 1, 2012. Though the saving from this should be less than 100,000. It should be recognise. this would also remove the need for people to declare lost bonds in the paper.
@anthony
Can you expand on your last comment for the BU family?
It just mean that all the government paper will now be electronic. So there will be no bonds papers, treasury bills handed to you in your hand in future. they will be registered in your name. Maybe in conjunction with the BSE. So you can have trading to bill on bonds done there. would provide for way more active bse.
@anthony
Thanks, you mean an electronic repository.
The budget was professionally delivered. It was well thought out and addressed the sectoral issues in a creative and innovative way. I am particularly impressed with the major investment in the cultural industries.
you could say that.or spreadsheets. or database. all the record will just be held electronically now.
An impressive budget – Barbados needs to be weaned off its heavy dependence on fossil fuels and create new paths for growth and development. Minister Sinckler showed great maturity in putting measures in place to benefit all Barbadians in years to come while levelling with the public about the reality of the current economic environment.
More incoherent policy.
@innovator
Could you please expand on any three (3) of these sectoral issues??
@Pat
Which measures will benefit us in years to come and how?
I’m not an economist, but clearly this budget is like the preverbial plane in a holding pattern waiting for the air traffic controller to tell it that the runway has been cleared for landing. Enjoy your in-flight movie, juice and soda while you wait.
I guess this may have been the best “politico-economic” strategy for the minister given the prevailing conditions. Don’t squeeze, don’t ease, promote plans and policy with generral, figures timelines and implementation periods.
A very euridite presentantion by the Hon. Chris Sinckler. I hope all rum shops are closed tonight…..before the Opposition Leader makes his reply tomorrow !
Owen should break with tradition and not oppose this Budget. In addition, he shouyld shower Sincler with praise. There is a lot to gain by so doing. He can be viewed as uniting in these harsh economic times, in addition to potentially cause some unease to Fruendel with the hope that sincler and his team would seek to capitalize on the momentum of his popularity and move to oust the him. The BLP could then seek to in turn capilatize on any dissention with the DLP.
Erudite? We really like to throw around words.
@Pat
Where, how, and when? There is absolutely no evidence of this in the budget. If I missed these things, please highlight for me. I plead ignorant this time around.
@Innovator
If this presentation was so ‘impressive’ could you please itemise the things that would lead one to make this conclusion.
Barbadians will not be fooled! Again by the DLP! Promissory Budget with very little substance of merit.
@observing
The specific incentives to businesses and households who invest in solar and alternative energy all encourage Barbados to move away from the heavy reliance on oil and its volatility in price. Any time the there is a spike in oil prices over the last 40 years our economy and pockets get the shock!
It is also important to see that Government is taking the lead in retrofitting Government buildings including the Parliament Building to cut the electricity cost.- the incentives and funding for the cultural industries also seek to reposition and diversify our economy.- The Barbados economy needed to be restructured a long time ago. This budget moves the country in the right direction.
Some of the issues raised in the budget should have been on the national agenda a long time ago.
The integrating of alternative energy.
The assistance to the cultural industry,in a significant way.
The assistance to the car racing sector is an interesting initiative.
The need to establish policies to push a green economy and push consumers to become energy conscious is important.
Having a medium term fiscal policy which can be used to hold government’s feet to the fire vis a vis expenditure/revenue thresholds and others/
Any one who listened to the BLP and DLP sparring on VOB in the post-budget debate would not have been encouraged that politicians understand what bipartisanship means in these times.
The reference Minister Sinckler made to the debt:gdp moving from 50+ to 80+ under the BLP is good politics but we need to move away from this at this time. However with an election looming we can dream on.
David bipartisanship is just a better way for politicians to tief.
We need combative adversarial politics (democracy) or a Dictatorship.
Don’t let me have to remind you of the incestuous business relationships between members of the political parties in Barbados.
Now use wunna brains and start greening wunna homes. Solar and Wind.
@ David,
What is bipartisanship in the Barbadian political context? How/when did the BLP during the last 3.5 years blocked the DLP from implementing their policies?
David said “Some of the issues raised in the budget should have been on the national agenda a long time ago.”
Exactly my point David! Apart from that the budget was a waste of words and time. They say self praise is no praise at all and all I heard was chest thumping. A whole lotta nutting. Nothing to really help stimulate the economy like incentives to cut the cost of food, real incentives for agriculture, and manufacturing has been dead for many many years. So export incentives like land tax reductions will hardly help manufacturers. I have my shovel ready to help bury this government.
@Hantsie
You are right but how many of our middleclass will sell one of those vehicles in the driveway and capitalize on the taxbreak to retrofit the house with alternative energy supply?
Hi David:
I have to represent a civil service aquaintance of mine. He went to sleep paying increased road taxes; got up still paying them. He went to sleep paying taxes on allowances; got up still paying them. He went to sleep with a very high food bill; got up still with it. In short, he went to sleep with the load put on frm the 2008 budget; got still with it and the rest that “Sinker” continue to put on him. This budget is more of the same. “Sinker” needs to really understanf what the word “ease” means.
@LEMUEL ARETI – did your civil servant acquaintance also go to sleep with a job and wake up with one? Perhaps he should count his blessings instead of his curses.
Interesting. Was it a perfect budget? No. Did ti do some things that needed doing? Yes. Even though my heart is with renewable energy, I think in terms of short term gains, motor sport has the greatest potential for Barbados – yes even more than entertainment.
Let’s face it, the music industry (yes I’m also a professional musician – I was playing at Mango Bay last night in fact) has been sadly neglected for many years. He did a lot that was necessary – but he didn’t go far enough in my humble opinion.
Motorsport is short term gain. Entertainment is medium term gain. Renewable Energy is long term gain. That’s just my personal opinion of how it is now, not the way it should be.
Two suggestions Mr. Sinckler.
Set up a Government of Barbados iTunes “channel” which has a specifically-for-Barbados written tune by RiRi (sort of like Rupee’s I am Bajan kind of thing. I’m sure she’d love to do it. There aren’t enough Modern “Bajan” songs/anthems) which is only available on iTunes. Not on any album etc. This is what attracts people to the channel. On that channel promote all Bajan musicians. The visitors looking for Rihanna’s “exclusive” track get a “taste” of Barbados, and the chance (partly sponsored by the Tourism Authority) to record a Barbados-promoting song in beautiful Barbados in a Bajan studio. This way you also get lots of musicians looking to record visiting the site and considering Barbados as a place to record music.
Second, the money in renewable energy right now is in encapsulation. Encapsulation means putting solar cells in a box. Encapsulation being renewable energy’s cash cow may change later, but that’s unlikely. This is because every major solar cell producer is owned by an oil company, and prices are kept artificially high by under-production. The price is never coming down, so why not make money off it and also provide yourself with a local industry for which there will always be a market. There will always be people who want solar panels all over the Caribbean and even South America. Right now we must buy the panels form far away places. Set up a small to begin with (we don’t have lot’s of money) plant to take the fragile solar cells (that we buy from someone – you CAN get them cheap) and put them in an aluminium box to protect them from breakage, rain etc.
You can even partner with Aquasol, Solar Dynamics and Sunpower (alphabetical order) who do something similar with solar water heaters (the collectors are almost the same externally – they are different inside, but I’m sure they could adapt) to build these panels. The market is huge.
The budget is a start, but we can to do more. For Barbados’ sake we have to do more.
I did not expect the Minister of Finance to do much in the Budget, and he did not disappoint. I am starting to see a conspiracy. The Minister followed my suggestion and changed the threshold for land tax. I am now asking myself, “Did the property values rise in order to give the Minister an opportunity to give a tax concession? I certainly do not understand in this recessionary period how property values could rise and to such an extent. My conclusion is that it gave the Minister an opportunity to appear to be doing something.
I would advise the Government to stop playing politics and do something meaningful for the country. The Minister of Finance spent a lot of time trying to discredit Owen Arthur. If Sinckler had any sense, he would have realized that Arthur has already done so by himself and does not need Sinckler’s or anyone else in that regard.
@Pat
that’s only one one. And it only benefits those who can afford the investment, not all Barbadians. neither does it make the budget impressive.
It doesn’t take a brain surgeon to realise that alternative energy (policy) is and should have been at the forefront of our agenda for the past 20 years rather than a reaction to Light and Power’s indecent assault on households. Though I would not characterise the budget as “horrible” I also cannot characterise it as “outstanding.” I found nothing that speaks specifically to
a) clear proactive measures to crawl or claw our way out of the recession,
b) “specifics” with respect to reducing expenditure significantly and
c) to assisting those that right now are hurting most (except the “one off energy grant”)
As said earlier, better probably could not be done and great expectations shouldn’t be cast at the minister’s feet. It really isn’t his fault. Nonetheless, we’re no better or worse off after yesterday. Still waiting and observing.
David wrote “how many of our middleclass will sell one of those vehicles in the driveway and capitalize on the taxbreak.”
None!
But,as man, If I am fortunate to return to live in Barbados,before I am too old, I will build a house that is hurricane proof and completely off the grid.
@Islandgal246,
Your blog shows that you have enough land to grow food and feed yuhself.
wha incentive you need?
Well continue eatin the toxic imported food that you doan kno wey um come frum. lol
gotta go mek some dis Canadian money to build muh solar house.
Hants …you foolish poppet yuh cahn see muh basket of avocados, limes and golden apples. I need incentive to afford labour to wuk the land cahn find nuh bajans to wuk fuh muh yuh got any dat yuh cud recommend? BTW yuh ent eating toxic food up in Canada? Yuh got more toxicity in yuh botsy dan me.
@ David
“The assistance to the car racing sector is an interesting initiative.”
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The government is currently seeking technical assistance from the Commonwealth Secretariat on the formulation of a Sports Tourism Strategy to amongst other things assess “…..the sports tourism product of Barbados in order to identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.”
“Some of the issues raised in the budget should have been on the national agenda a long time ago.”
Were they not?
@David | August 16, 2011 at 8:17 PM | Interesting to note that Mia Mottley gently tapped the table when Sinckler announced the initiative for the cultural industry.
We all know that culture is near and dear to HIS heart.
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Near and dear to HIS heart? Was this a typo or intentional? LOL
@Adrian Hinds | August 16, 2011 at 11:51 PM | Owen should break with tradition and not oppose this Budget. In addition, he shouyld shower Sincler with praise. There is a lot to gain by so doing. He can be viewed as uniting in these harsh economic times, in addition to potentially cause some unease to Fruendel with the hope that sincler and his team would seek to capitalize on the momentum of his popularity and move to oust the him. The BLP could then seek to in turn capilatize on any dissention with the DLP.
—————————-
All you can think about is political strategy and how a party can win an election? Well I disagree, I think the best strategy is to address the issues that are affecting lower and middle class Barbadians, and explain what he would have done to ease the burden on the people in some way. Owen doesn’t have to oppose the budget, all he has to do is say here is what I would have done in addition to address the suffering of the people which I think is top priority in these very difficult times.
@Caswell Franklyn | August 17, 2011 at 9:38 AM | I did not expect the Minister of Finance to do much in the Budget, and he did not disappoint. I am starting to see a conspiracy. The Minister followed my suggestion and changed the threshold for land tax. I am now asking myself, “Did the property values rise in order to give the Minister an opportunity to give a tax concession? I certainly do not understand in this recessionary period how property values could rise and to such an extent. My conclusion is that it gave the Minister an opportunity to appear to be doing something.
———————–
Same thing was running thru my mind.
@Islandgal246,
We have “organic fruit and vegetables” in the supermarket.
Not as organic as yours but certainly not “toxic”.
If you can’t find bajans to wuk de lan get some guyanese. Muh fadah had to do dat an so can you.
@Zack
The issue that is affecting Bajans is poor health, from their diet and lifestyle. Nuh budget can’t fix that, certainly not one that will “ease” them to continue doing more of the same. It is a blessing in diguise that food items in the supermarket continue to spiral out of the reach of bajans. Should it really concern people that poisionous proccess foods are high in price? it does, but it shouldn’t
It is good to listen to the intellectuals from UWI and others speaking to what ails the Barbados economy. Many have indicated that Barbados has a spend problem but when asked if the government should send home civil servants they all shout no and refuse to answer. The brinkmanship continues.
be careful BU, Francic is an Owen/MASCOLL Clone. He is not no independent economist. And when next you see him ask him what is the family connection between him and Arthur’s first daughter.
Would like Dr. Francis to further explain if there is aggressive consumer spend and the global recession stretches from 3 to 5 does he feel comfortable with 20 weeks forex cover.
@AOD
They have been trying to control the POP by pumping MORE AIR IN????
Solar energy initiatives are positive, even if 30 yrs late. Wind energy is very inefficient,( only 30% efficient) so doubtful.
The question is ” Did he focus on job creation now?” Infrastructure projects like roads, port facilities, bridges that are needed and would provide jobs. This should have been on the drawing board since 2008 and now ready to GO! What did he do in terms of job creation and revenue enhancement for people and Govt.
Can someone clarify how hotels can benefit from delayed land tax payment if a land tax clearance certificate is required to get a liquor license? Will a deviation letter be issued?
Compare Owen’s strategy to that of Sinckler’s. You will be a fool and liar to say that Sinckler had the better presentation. Nothing Sinckler presented will move the country forward. It is simply a budget to position the DLP to win votes when the election is called late next year after the houses are given away, hopefully a recovery, restarting of the Four Seasns project etc.
Owen described the Minister of Finance as asleep at the wheel and as if Barbados has been given a heavy dose of slow poison.
So… I’ve been watching the budget “debate” live on CBC 108.
I’m probably going to regret saying this, but I now understand the term “crabs in a barrel” better than I ever have before….
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