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- Read full text of the 2017 Financial Statement and Budgetary Proposals
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Barbados Budget 2017
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456 responses to “Barbados Budget 2017”
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Purely from a tourism perspective I cannot see this budget achieving the desired result. More hotels (of all sizes) will increase their collection of FX overseas which was sanctioned in the Sandals ‘deal’. Those needing to purchase imported items in FX will use an overseas issued credit card (like Amex) and when they need to pay bills in FX they simply will use these. Please correct me if I am wrong but VAT is calculated on the amount when the NSRL has been added. ie: item $100 plus 10 per cent NSRL – $110 plus 17.5 per cent VAT = Total $129.25 or almost equal to 30 per cent VAT. For the lucky few who can still get their VAT refunds, they will be able to obtain the VAT amount but not the NSRL amount?
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Breaking News
Word reaching the news rooms across Barbados is that given the presentation of the excellent 2017/2018 Budget yesterday
Mia Mottley has told George Payne as Chairman of the BLP he should reply to the Budget…..as she has no real issues with the Budget.
Wow…..I always knew that the BLP has a reservoir of talent.
George Payne is a great choice .
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@Adrian
Based on how the NSRL to 10% was proposed it is charged on imports at the point of entry and compounds the VAT.
Perhaps we need citizen advocate David Commissiong to challenge in Court the fact that the Bill is still to be enacted.
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Fractured. Wouldn’t it be better if Estwick was give the chance to bring this year’s budget. During David Thompson cabinet Estwick was Minister of Economic Affairs. Behind his huffing and puffing, he is a mathematics guru. However, it is far too late.
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David
The NRSL is calculated on the CIF value for goods at the border and on the selling price for locally produced goods.So that you are paying a VAT of 17.5% + NRSL of 10% Both based on the same selling price,therefore you are actually paying a VAT of 27.5% but it is not called VAT and the seller cannot off set the NRSL like he does VAT.Bottom line it hits the taxpayer to the tune of 27.5% of the cost of the good.This is highway robbery of disposable earnings.I hope Mia and the Opposition are all awake to the hurt this budget will bring because when you add transportation costs in to the cost of the good you are paying much much more.Be on the lookout for a near 30 to 35% increase in retail prices.Taxi fares and bus fares will most likely increase.Rice gone up!Pork gone up! -
….was given the chance…….
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@ George C. BrathwaiteMay 31, 2017 at 2:15 PM
George B, fair enough!
You are entitled to display your Judas’s garments while regaled in a white robe of politically peaceful neutrality.
What you need to draw to the attention of your charges in that talk shop is that Barbados is on the cusp of becoming another black-managed economic basket case and a failed state with its erstwhile reputation as being the model of political social and economic development for small developing states about to be shot dead in the water of partisan political buffoonery.
Tell your mentor for a leader to question the status of Four Seasons.Why is the current administration involving itself in other tourism projects while the Four Seasons project still lies languishing for the attention of investors who have been queuing outside the MoF’s office since 2012 and for which a pinch of snuff could not get between a sealed and delivered deal only awaiting signature?
What is so wrong with the Paradise site that neither the Chinese, Butch nor Maloney seem keen to take off the hands of the government?
Why not sell to Maloney for a song and let him prove his entrepreneurial mettle by turning an ugly rusting frog into a prince of tourism which even Ms Richelle Sealy should be proud to shout about this afternoon?
This is one of the many pertinent questions that must be put to Prince Stinkliar instead of the powder-puff shots of friendly fire delivered by Her Majesty’s Opposition leader.
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Dear David:
Are you going to post the speech of the Honourable Leader of the Opposition as soon as she is finished. I would like to listen to her but right now I cannot (working)
Thanks.
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I was able to listen to the Honourable Minister of Finance yesterday, and I am scared of the new high taxes. And in addition I doubt that he will be able to implement all that he has proposed.
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@pingp
I am not knowledgeable. The price of gas is controlled by the GoB. So they set the retail price. The fuels are also subject to taxes/volume. So the GoB sets these. The GoB does not control the cost of fuels, so I would assume these excise tax increases cut into the profits along the way to the pump.
It has long been noted on BU and elsewhere, the retail price of fuels never dropped relative to the price of oil. Implying savings were being pocketed, between the cost at import and the pump. With the BNTCL sale pending, I would suspect this is a way to get those savings back into the public coffers. -
Mia’s Plans for the future
Stop printing of money by CBB
Every family should have an income for basic living
Cost of living allowance for public workers
Restore confidence in key institutions
Hire staff for Auditor General Office
Provide accurate data…….Independent Institute of Statistics
Independent Police Service Commission (Mayers getting $300,000??????)
Joint select committees of both houses
Pass legislation that no statutory Board can receive money except for salaries if they do not submit annual reports
Amend Revenue law
Overhaul of court system
Creating a framework for international business
Charter for turnaround time for decisions
Committee for “get Barbados moving again”
Rethink procurement rules for state enterprises
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This is what I call a HAAP projection…on a Hope And A Prayer. If consumers cut back, then the revenue projections will fall short, and with less than “real” cuts, more a shuffling of cards, in May 2018 the overall financial picture is likely to be unchanged.
Public expenses outgrew revenue for several years, and now we are waiting for revenue to catch up. Ain’t happening soon.
What was budgeted for public pay increases? -
Create a platform for growth
Decriminalise entrepreureship
Encourage nurses to go global
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Prodigal How is MIA going to implement some pieces of those legislation without have the tax payers funding
Can you expand without much pontification -
Grotto deal signed a Sunday morning? Since when government does this type of business on a Sunday?
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@independent voice May 31, 2017 at 6:06 PM
Just wait and see……….we have endure this government suffering from implementation deficit for so long..we can have confidence that a way will be found to make Barbados great again.
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@Prodigal – you gullible yardfowl – Has anything you stated above speak specifically about eliminating the fiscal deficit? Joker.
This long rambling and intentionally short on specifics regarding solutions reply by the leader of the opposition should be seen for what it is. NEXT !
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@ Prodigal “make Barbados great again.” , lol . you really think Bajans stupid. Mottley is trying to do the same thing Trump did, everything is easy, it will be great, it will be easy, leave it to me, lol
Stupse – Prodigal go back and sip your yardfowl tea. You are as big a fraud as Mottley. -
It is a pity that you did not say the same thing of the Stinkliar yesterday.
Have you heard the comments from the leaders of business this morning…………they summed up the budget accurately!
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Days of feeding at the trough are over.
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The most corrupt opposition leader in Bajan history Mia Mottley standing in her glass house and spreading rumours about corruption. The rocks will soon come Mottley, be careful, Mottley.
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independent voice May 31, 2017 at 6:06 PM #
“Prodigal How is MIA going to implement some pieces of those legislation without have the tax payers funding?”
@ independent voice
I recall DLP yard-fowls attempting to convince contributors to this forum that implementing integrity legislation would require “tax payers’ funding.”
Perhaps you may want to tell us why “the tax payers funding” would be required to implement Mottley’s proposals.
You are just another ignorant yard-fowl.
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Carson C. Cadogan May 30, 2017 at 8:15 PM “Income tax allowances were not taken away.”
That is only because there was nothing left to take away.
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@ Prodigal “Have you heard the comments from the leaders of business this morning”
You mean the same business leaders who recommended that the public service wage bill be cut by $140 million. The same business leaders who asked the government to send home 8000 public workers. Is that who you are holding up , Prodigal ? Good grief ,man ! Come again.
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Listen to the corrupt Speaker trying to shut up MAM so that the facts would not come out.
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Quote: ” University is full of a cesspool of copycats” @ 31.45 – 37.00 minutes.
Big day in Kenya. After 122 years a new railway line opens in Kenya financed by China.
Check out the video clip from 1.43.45.
Discuss the budget by all means. But please realise that within the context of real world politics it is an irrelevance.
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Mottley’s rambling reply is really disappointing even as someone who does not support her, I thought she would have raised her game. You believe that that she rehashing this Cahill horse again, she really grasping and catching at air.
Which cabinet fleeced over 100 million dollars of taxpayers money in a hole in Greenland ? was it a cabinet with Freundel or the joker Mottley ? Cahill, my foot –
Put a forensic audit in Crab Hill Police Farce Mottley, you hypocrite -
Bajanfuhlife May 31, 2017 at 6:19 PM #
“The most corrupt opposition leader in Bajan history Mia Mottley standing in her glass house and spreading rumours about corruption. The rocks will soon come Mottley, be careful, Mottley.”
@ Bajangetuhlife
Recall during the 2008 election campaign, the corrupt David Thompson, as Opposition Leader, went the length and breadth of Barbados “spreading rumours about corruption” of the previous BLP administration, cost overruns and a $75,000 cheque from CLICO Arthur deposited on his personal bank account.
Ironically, during the tenure of this inept DLP administration, the Auditor General revealed a number of cost overruns, including the Grotto housing project and BWA new headquarters; the Deloitte forensic audit revealed Thompson’s involvement in a $3.333M CLICO cheque which was deposited to his law firm’s account and we have heard about numerous instances of corruption.
If the DLP is without sin, then let any of its members and supporters cast the first stone.
The rocks are about to come Stuart and company, be careful, Stuart.
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You know when a government is in trouble…………documents are given to the opposition!
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The DLP should consider replacing Bajangetuhlife, Waiting, Fractured BLP Angela “AC” Skeete, Alvin Cummins and Carson C. Cadogan as their paid spokespersons in this forum, with sensible people.
They are doing a terrible job. Too many skeletons in the DLP’s closet for them to perform effectively.
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Prodigal – ??????
get real man. -
@Gabriel May 30, 2017 at 9:55 PM “The principle is a good one.However many of these artisans are not guaranteed work.”
Granted.
But nobody is asked to pay income tax on income NOT earned, but when they do have earned income, then they should pay the taxes due. Perhaps if everybody paid their fair share, then some of us barely middle class people won’t have to pay so much.
Fair is fair.
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@Exclaimer May 31, 2017 at 6:27 PM “Discuss the budget by all means. But please realise that within the context of real world politics it is an irrelevance.”
This is our life. This is our home. We are not irrelevant.
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Whatever Mia stands and states as a solution would require spending and funding of taxpayers money showing no return of a guaranteed profit margin
From the list of proposals submitted by Prodigal nothing shows any or any reasonable profit margin enough to tackle govt debt more likely another pathway of an expansion or explosion of govt debt
Her campaign speech in Parliament is chock full of fat and fails to meet the most pressing problem which the country faces namely debt -
Based on her performance tonight alone, Bushie will be rooting for Mia in any coming elections….
Just her promise to call in the RCMP /FBI /Scotland Yard alone to deal with some of the brass bowl scamps in that parliament is enuff to cause Bushie to support her….This is the opposition leader that we SHOULD have had since 2012….
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@Artax May 31, 2017 at 6:42 PM “The DLP should consider replacing Bajangetuhlife, Waiting, Fractured BLP Angela “AC” Skeete, Alvin Cummins and Carson C. Cadogan as their paid spokespersons in this forum…”
You are kidding me.
These people get paid?
Honestly if i wrote such nonsense i would not charged for it.
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Bush Tea May 31, 2017 at 7:02 PM #
Now yuh talking…..
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Poor Richard Sealy struggling………….man defend what MAM said about the nasty contracts you signed on the taxpayers’ behalf and aint tell us a word of the corruption.
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What sealed the deal for me Bushie was the promise to give the Auditor General’s office teeth…… This is a key institution in ensuring accountability and transparency.
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“Just her promise to call in the RCMP /FBI /Scotland Yard alone to deal with some of the brass bowl scamps in that parliament is enuff to cause Bushie to support her….”
That’s the only time Mia should be taken seriously…if she actually lock up all the thieves in the present government, when they vacate office.
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@ Vincent
ANYBODY who takes such a strong PUBLIC stand against corruption gets Bushie’s support.Such a person does not have to have a clean slate;
…does not have to be perfect in ANY way;
…. does not have to be a Bushie fan.Indeed, (just like stinking Bushie) other natural scamps can often be made into the VERY best agents and tools for change.
We have needed a strident advocate for truth, justice, fairness and righteousness now for DECADES….
David Thompson turned out to be a damn crook and a hypocrite
Caswell refused to stand up when called…
Grenville is focused on ‘solutions’ rather than INTEGRITY…
Walter was brought out cheaply…
Jeff is lost in the technicalities of the shiite Law
so…
…if Mia is willing to finally take up the mantle … Bushie will lend her a whacker. -
The Leader of the Opposition was devastating in her presentation.She made sure that the level of corruption,the lies,the deceit of the DLP are all now known to those who tuned in to the DLPTV or CBC and VOB.The corruption is endemic.I think the Speaker was afraid his name would be called too because he was a wee bit timid in his cautions.The promises she committed the party to are along the lines the BU have been promoting.This particular session of parliament is going to be scathing commentary.One assumes,to quote the former Editor of the Advocate Robert Best,the Dems “will come out swiping”;after all, their ‘honour’has been made bare if not low.I seen those Dems as shameless .Nothing will embarrass them.
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independent voice May 31, 2017 at 6:57 PM #
“Whatever Mia stands and states as a solution would require spending and funding of taxpayers money showing no return of a guaranteed profit margin.”
Independent voice
In actuality, your comments are so stupid that they do not deserve a response.
My friend, you have to be on some sort of hallucinogenic medication, alcohol or perhaps Vincy or Jamaican sinsemilla to write the above shiite.
Profit margin, or return on sales ratio, is a profitability ratio that measures the amount of net income earned with each dollar of sales, expressed as a percentage (i.e. the percentage of revenue remaining after costs, expenses, etc are deducted).
Could you please explain to me how you were able to correlate the implementation of policy initiatives and profit margins?
Okay, perhaps you may care to explain to me what is the “guaranteed profit margin” for school children, senior citizens and police officers travelling on Transport Board buses free, especially taking into consideration that the Ministry of Education, Welfare Department and police, respectively, have to “reimburse” the TB?
You are just another ignorant yard-fowl.
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Sealy is in trouble in his reply.The man has been rattled.Its very obvious,he’s under heavy manners.
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@Asstax
If you want to make this election about Corruption , Freundel vs Mia, Bring it on, ya loss before ya start.
A word to the wise. Mottley’s time will come and she and Peter her advisor are well aware of that. Time will tell . -
I love how Mia shut down Denis Lowe and unmasked that know it all lawyer. What will be the DLP’s next catch phrase now that “same-sex marriage” has been blown out the water? I also love when she kept repeating “Bajans know me, you can’t intimidate me”. #bruggadung
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Simple Simon May 31, 2017 at 7:09 PM #
“These people get paid? Honestly if i wrote such nonsense i would not charged for it.”
@ Simple Simon
I agree with you, and the shiite “independent voice” wrote reinforces you point.
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Richard Sealy is so poor………….
Mia’s presentation seem to have rattled them as she exposed the blatant corruption of the DLP.
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Asstax – the only person who will be in danger of getting Lock up is the head biter herself, If she has evidence of clear corruption, take it to the DPP.
Mottley is a toothless dog with multiple skeletons in her closet. You think people shaking, stupse – George Payne was trying not to laugh out of his seat – after all in a sworn affidavit he suggests Mottley is A THIEF.The DLP has multiple cards and some aces to lay against Mottley. Bushie boy, when the shit hits the fan for Mottley- you will be chanting “LOCK HER UP”
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