Comment posted by John A @2019/05/29 at 5:31 pm
…I come home this evening to find a Land tax bill in my mail box for the same amount I paid last year for a 12 month period, however this bill only covering the period from the last bill till now which is only roughly 7 months. So can you tell me if I should go to the Fair Trading Comission and lodge a complaint for receiving a bill for a calender year but only covering a 7 month period?
I mean I ain t got no alphabet behind my name but somehow to pay 12 months in land rental to the government for only 7 months of occupancy seem wrong to me.
Help advise a small man what to do here fellers cause the way I see it this tax period I either getting double bill per months of occupancy, or I get a 50 percent in land tax based on me paying in 7 months what I paid in 12 last year.
So wait next year bill going come out in February then and we going pay a full land tax amount for 8 months next year too?…
Comment posted by Gabriel @ 2019/05/29 at 10:00 pm
Your point is well made.The tax demand is for the Financial Year 2019-20 so that Finance would proffer that the payment can be demanded anytime after April 2019 but in that event the next payment should not be due until April 2020,one year after as you have pointed out.I was around long enough to know that these tax bills offered a 10% discount in the first instance usually in November and a 5% discount in the second instance in December before the full amount is due and payable.Now it’s a 5% discount only after which the full amount is demanded.So we have seen significant changes in the Tax Demand Notice without so much as a whimper from Mr Ryan Straughan. (1)A big increase,(2)less discount for prompt payment and (3)less than a calendar year elapsing before demanding the following year’s payment.Property owners are sitting ducks as are the PAYE class.
Two Land Tax Bills in Eight Months
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252 responses to “Two Land Tax Bills in Eight Months”
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The tax increases are a necessary consequence of the IMF programme. The IMF program is a necessary consequence of 10 years of DLP injustice.
The complaint about the higher property tax is a dishonest one. On the one hand, many BU commentators complain about the reduction of social standards and layoffs in the public sector, on the other hand they complain about higher taxes. You just can’t want a fat welfare state with too many civil servants and low taxes at the same time.
In my personal opinion, we should send at least 10,000 civil servants into the desert and sell or close 99% of state enterprises. Only then is there again a fiscal buffer for tax cuts. But I know: Then the moaning of the idle middle class about the terrible social dismantling starts again.
Prosperity on credit is an illusion. Thank God we now have a prime minister who kicks the arrogant middle class in the a..
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Well said, Tron, well said. You upper class people are a heartless lot. Hope you’re proud of yourself.
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there are two types of people that complain about property taxes on the rock…men and women
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What upperclass..the scum is COMMON CLASS..and all THIEVES.
everything oozing out of parliament is a scam, a set up, a robbery, a sabotage, a big lie etc…THAT IS NOT NORMAL
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@ FearPlay May 30, 2019 5:43 AM
It’s not about feelings, it’s about the future of Barbados. Since 1966, Barbadians have let themselves be manipulated by false feelings such as blind patriotism or a diffuse sense of justice.
And where has that led to? Despite billions for education, Barbados is now worse off than any pepper island within 5000 miles.
@ Wily & Miller
At this point I would also like to point out that my attitude is always the same. I am in favour of social dismantling, flexibilisation, deregulation, privatisation, the abolition of all customs duties for free world trade and the free movement of services and capital. That is what I have always advocated and will always advocate.
Unlike other commentators, however, I do not always associate my demands with biting criticism of the government. Because the government was elected and many voters just want the fat welfare state, even if this welfare state has totally ruined Barbados. We must therefore criticise the voters and their attitude, not the government.
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Government policy everywhere is about being creative with tax policy. It has nothing with being wicked and all the other palaver. In the past government had the luxury given our capacity to borrow and a global environment that facilitated i.e. tax shelters, preferential agreements etc. It is a different world in what is called globalization. Every turkey for his own craw as they say. We have to dig deep as a people to understand what will be required to carve out our space in the world to sustain a sustainable quality of life.
Barbados can be inspired that we are not in the struggle alone. We have to be prepared to build our own models for success.
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FORGET ABOUT MERE TAXES
GEORGIE PORGIE, THE RESIDENT FEMALE RABBIT, PREACHES, LIKE THE IDIOT ROBERT HENDERSON, THAT ALL THE MONEY BELONGS TO GOD. AND IF MUGABE IS HER OPPOINTED ONE SHE CAN TAKE 100% OF EVERYTHING!
”In an interview with televangelist Jim Bakker, known not only for his preaching but for having a criminal record, Pastor Robert Henderson has predicted that those trying to remove Donald Trump from office will fail. Henderson, promoting his book “Prayers and Declarations that Open the Courts of Heaven” on “The Jim Bakker Show”, insisted that people, opposing the incumbent president are fighting God as Trump is the Almighty’s pick.”’
“He’s God’s choice. They can try all day long to remove him, they will not remove him. God said, ‘I set him as the president,’ and they can fight, and they can curse, and they can do all that they want; the problem is that they’re fighting against God”, Henderson insisted.
https://sputniknews.com/us/201905301075463917-us-pastor-trump-god-choice/
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Government policy everywhere is about being creative with tax policy. It has nothing with being wicked and all the other palaver. In the past government had the luxury given our capacity to borrow and a global environment that facilitated i.e. tax shelters, preferential agreements etc. It is a different world in what is called globalization. Every turkey for his own craw as they say. We have to dig deep as a people to understand what will be required to carve out our space in the world to sustain a sustainable quality of life.
Barbados can be inspired that we are not in the struggle alone. We have to be prepared to build our own models for success.(Quot e))CAN SOMEONE PLSE EXPLAIN IN simple English WHAT THIS MEANS?
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“And where has that led to? Despite billions for education, Barbados is now worse off than any pepper island within 5000 miles.”
Only because the leaders are SHITE and THIEVES..
with all that taxpayer funded education, decades of experience in governance…but bad governance….and yall can’t even manage a tiny economy without shite consultants who are little more than thieves themselves…
yeah..definitely billions wasted on educating common class thieves…..in the parliament and bar association..
only mad people would want those SAME THIEVES…leading them..
all the long talk, outside of scamming, funneling and syphoning off taxpayers and pensioners money and funneling state funded entities to themselves… as usual… they still DO NOT KNOW WHAT THEY ARE DOING…..and will NEED MORE AND MORE CONSULTANTS…to help them TIEF…
…….ya pulled the beast’s tail…there is a price..
tiefing and robbing and setting up people…are not best practices in managing a government or economy…never was, never will be..
they will ALWAYS BE FAILURES…because CORRUPTION IS A FAIL..
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WARU
We were never convinced that ‘stealing’ alone, or even mal-administration, were centrally causal for the maladies we face, will continue to face.
As far as stealing is concerned one only has to observe how most former politicians or senior civil servants live to confirm the null.
Indeed, is it not time to consider other factors, other central tendencies.
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@Hal,
as i was reading that i smiled and said to myself i wonder when Hal is going to ask for an explanation of that mishmash.
i must admit that David has a way with words
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@ Greene,
The guy has a problem (you call it a way) with the language. Maybe it is the result of a Canadian or US education. It is certainly not Bajan English.
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I don’t think the apologist understand basic facts and the issue that is relevant so let me try and put it in simple terms.
What has happened here is a breach of contract between property owners and state. A tax year is 12 months not 7 or 8. If this nonesence goes unchallenged what is next? Will next year’s land tax bill come out in February then making us again pay a tax over 8 months that legally is suppose to cover a year?
Now let’s deal with the supporting facts that should warrant a Land Tax increase and see how they apply to us here in Bim.
Property prices on the island have fallen 30 percent on average over the last few years according to The Red Book, so based of that is a land tax increase justified? NO
The rental market has also suffered a serious blow, not only in the offshore rentals but to locals as well. Again on average domestic rents are down roughly 25% across the board, does that therefore justify a land tax increase? NO
Commercial land tax will also increase on business too. So let me ask the apologist a question. Who you think will end up paying that? If you don’t know it will be us the consumer who shop there! Based on that do you think that is fair to an already overtaxed people? NO
So now that we have established that an increase in land tax can not be supported by economic reasoning, wunna still want to wave the party flag and say all is well pay it and question nothing?
When next you go into a supermarket and see prices increase again and you start to complain that your pocket light as you paid 2 LAND TAX BILLS IN 8 months, remember so has the supermarket and now you are paying them back.
At the core of this is however is a much bigger picture. It is the breach of what is a social agreement that has stood for years where the payment of a Tax for a year covers a 12 month period. So what is next, will ZR permits and other previously contracted payments also become victim to this new phenomena now witnessed which I shall call THE BIRTH OF THE 8 MONTH YEAR?
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“Indeed, is it not time to consider other factors, other central tendencies.”
Pacha is that sentence correct?
Stealing unfortunately…played a central role in causing the economy to crash….it was not external forces alone…if the money was there, debts could have been paid, both domestic and external, infrastructure could have been maintained, buses and garbage trucks bought….the lives of THE MAJORITY POPULATION WOULD HAVE BEEN BETTER IMPROVED.
…..but it was always scam after scam with some white tief, indian thief, syrian thief…and on and on…so while other demonic and devious factors definitely played a role…stealing was central to the destruction of the economy and inability to maintain the island adequately or efficiently in the last 40 years..
one only has to take a look at the many mansions, huge apartment buildings, large houses, many automobiles, billions of dollars hidden offshore…and all the other useless trinkets they love to accumulate to show off on their own people…. to see that THEFT OF PUBLIC FUNDS,..BROUGHT THE ISLAND TO ITS KNEES.
don’t know how familiar ya are with certain people and lifestyles in Barbados, but let me tell you, some live better than billionaires in the metropolises.
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For persons like myself to live that type of lifestyle in Barbados, i have to be totally dependent on external forces.
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@Pacha
There is a fixation to address the symptoms.
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We must get at the root cause of why 2 governments who claim to be intelligent…BUT ARE CLEARLY NOT……are so goddamn corrupt….and have been for over 70 years…
although they know what they are doing to the people is CRIMINAL…
although they lock up the least wealthy in the majority population for doing the same damn things at a much smaller level..
although they know the destruction to the economy is a given …once they continue the criminality and wholesale robberies..
although they know that ..THEY WILL NOT GET AWAY WITH IT THIS TIME…they are STILL HELLBENT ON DOING IT..
ah think ya got my drift…
we are quite familiar with outside forces and their deviousness in implementing their self interest agendas…
but not even them ya can blame for this..
ya done know when am forced to defend them…I CUSS THEM TOO.
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@ Pacha
First major mistake in recent times: Failure to get on the Information Highway.
Before that: Failure to deal with land use policy and fair wealth distribution;
Then Arthur: Refusing to care the environment and allowing the infrastructure to become run down
Most recent: The DLP’s massive management failure.
Today: IMF and endless propaganda.
Notice reversal of Policy re Hyatt etc
Apologist: Blame the “ welfare “state”
Same old same oldDuopoly Rules.
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@William
Here is another, maybe more important.
The inability of an educated class to fully engage the democratic process.
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With all of the political and social cussing the original point remains, are we being taxed in an overlapping schedule? It appears so and with all of the pain that’s unconscionable. ERW
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@ William
you remain sane in this insane world, mate
you submissions are most welcomed
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Errol above being unconscionable is it even legal under our constitution?
Can one party alter a contract period to represent a period that does not conform to the legal description of the contract?
In other words can a year suddenly become 8 months because ” I say so.”
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Waru your comment about not being able to live here without outside income says it all.
You still wonder why foreign investment so scarce? Look at the cost of ownership today of a property for one answer.
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“First major mistake in recent times: Failure to get on the Information Highway.”
ya took a sledge hammer to this..
they would have been in a much better place if they had not…TRIED TO SHUT DOWN THE BLOGS….to protect and cover up their corruption and criminality..against people and country.and protect their partners in crimes.
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John A….the cost of living is astronomical…ya have to be able to live on income that doubles when transferred.
if you want to live a certain lifestyle…ya better be pulling at least 200K a year …$200,000…and that is in US.
…….anything else is pay check to pay check, hand to mouth or outright POVERTY…which we both know, they force on the majority population…in order to siphon off what they want to steal.
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Um is Crop Over and I putting pen to paper.
I finish the hook- line / chorus
.
Let the horses neigh ( oompah)
Let the donkeys bray (oompah)
The higher the monkeys climb (oompah)
The more they expose their “R”s
Dhoobie Dhoobie Dooo!
Dhoobie Dhoobie Doo!
The higher the monkeys climb
The more they expose their “R”s.I will release three more stanzas as the season progresses
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Unless we address the corruption…which ties into this scam with two tax bills within a 7-8 month period….
….which ties into the latest scam of trying to get Bajans who lived outside for decades, because there was never opportunities created on the island for them in the last 5 decades by the same 2 corrupt governments …to now return to the island TO BE ROBBED IN THIS OBVIOUS SHAKEDOWN….of bajans who had to flee to seek opportunities..
i take it yall heard about the LIST they accumulated claiming people owe them land tax…Bajans who live outside…another setup.
so those who are getting land tax bills back to back…yall are also being SET UP…for THEFT OF YOUR PROPERTIES..
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@Hal
“Canadian or US education”Please do not make derogatory comments about our northern neighbour’s education system to cover up BARADOS inadequate disfunctipnal education system and it’s products.
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And that ugly little 1/4 of an excuse of a man… a nuisance thief…who is not much more than a little ghoul, a darker version of a garden gnome is the one setting up all of you to be robbed…of your properties…the thief..Pain..
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This is where the government needs to improve. Despite a bevy of communications people it is taking too long to respond to lacunae.
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See Pacha…all we have to do is follow THE PATTERN…
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I will suggest that BU Household ensure that they read the bills to ascertain the year for which they are being invoiced. This is to ensure that they are not being charged twice.
I noticed that this maybe the third year that the pay due date is earlier and the notices are sent out with less time to pay and the discounts are also lower.
Somebody is playing smart. My mother used to impress on me and my siblings that to be smart you need brains.
As i warned before, somebody gine get “huff”. Just make sure it is not you. -
SHAME AND DISGRACE ON THE CORRUPT BLP GOVERNMENT…..
….this female has no right being this distressed..for her own welfare, she is medically unfit..yall evil beasts are killing her..
https://www.facebook.com/linda.freeman.18/videos/10219563454823800/?t=2
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Vincent yes this year is a massive miscarriage of fairness and for some of us to have a 30 percent increase in a 8 month year is madness, but watch this contradiction in legal practice.
If I buy a house from you and you have paid the tax for the year, your attorney charges me for the months due on the tax year, so basically I repay you for the months I own the house that you paid the tax on.
So my question to the legal luminaries is this. If by law I am given a pro-rated bill for land tax based on the months of my ownership, how come when the shoe on government foot they don’t give me a pro-rated bill for only 8 months if they plan to change the same tax year?
I cant even take them to the Fair Trading commission on this cause I doubt they would touch it!
My question is when a clear breach of contract like this occurs, who do we the people turn to for representation in the absence of a real opposition?
Also once this precident goes unchallenged what’s Next given our economic and political environment?
As I say nuff questions and not a mouse want to touch them with facts as opposed to political loyalty and yardfowlism. Yes it’s a word as I say so! Lol
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They are forcing this lady to go sleep with some filthy, disease ridden, pervert tourists…just to support herself…….
……but she is strong and when we are done…the predatory pervert tourists will be afraid to venture into Barbados…totally afraid..
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@ John A at 10:13 AM
Land tax is paid for ownership. It is an asset/ wealth tax. It cannot therefore be prorated. If you own it you pay the tax. Period. You are only eligible to pay tax after it is transferred to you. The GoB cannot collect two taxes on the same piece of land for the same tax year.
You do not need a lawyer or court decision for that. The registered owner appears on the Land tax bill. Your name not on it ;you do not pay.Sorry if this intervention appears repetitive.
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“My question is when a clear breach of contract like this occurs, who do we the people turn to for representation in the absence of a real opposition?”
just don’t fall into the trap being set…
do not take those tax bills to any lawyers in Barbados..
…..the plan is ya hire a lawyer to challenge the tax bill…and end up being stuck in their corrupt supreme court while they figure out ways to steal the properties..cause they would have then given themselves lots of time to do what is necessary………up to and including…killing ya ass…if necessary
cause one way or the other…they plan to ROB U AND YA BENEFICIARIES.
continue to expose everything they do…let the world see…it’s your only DEFENSE.
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Vincent not questioning the liability as that would be based on legal ownership, but the period covered under the payment and their right to manipulate it as they see fit. If I pay for 1 year I expect it to be a calendar year of 12 months.
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@ WURA-WAR-on-U May 30, 2019 7:23 AM
Where does all this debt come from?
Finally take note that 95% of the debt has not gone into the pockets of allegedly or actually corrupt politicians.
The money was spent to feed as many civil servants as possible who were obviously superfluous, still are and will always be.
The money was spent to educate an unproductive middle class that has learned nothing but sleeping in the civil service.
The money was spent to mask the lack of productivity, the lack of motivation and the lack of self-responsibility of broad sections of the population and to create the illusion of prosperity.
Before something changes in Barbados, we do not need a new government or extravagant ideas, but a change of mentality. Away from the lethargy, away from state socialism, towards more personal responsibility, initiative and higher productivity.
It is a fact that the majority of the population is still not prepared to work longer and harder. If it were otherwise, the weekly working time in the public service would be at least 48 hours.There is still a prevailing mood that others should fix it, but not oneself. All complain about high taxes, but no one is already able to endure social cuts and send large parts of the civil service to hell and privatize or close 99% of state enterprises.
The only person I know in Barbados who really wants change and progress is our Prime Minister. She fights the bureaucratic monster on a daily basis. We should support her in this fight instead of constantly stabbing her in the back.
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@ John A at 10 :46 AM
As far as I know one pays land tax for a land tax /calendar year. Did you at anytime pay taxes for land for the same year twice. The invoice should indicate the year of tax. -
Reminds me of Animal Farm: Work Boxer to death while the leaders , join the exploiters and eat the best apples and drink the best milk.
This thinking is so backward that it makes one wonder why we educated these jokers.
All along we were told it was the mismanagement of the Dees now they blaming it on productivity. Typical cool aid talk of the apologists for the duopoly. Nonsense pure nonsense.
Duopoly Rules. -
“The money was spent to educate an unproductive middle class that has learned nothing but sleeping in the civil service”
you continue to miseducate them and teach them how to be corrupt..because all of you have refused to upgrade the education system…ya even refused to remove THE SLAVE LAWS OF THE STATUTE BOOKS…
so come again…who ya blaming for that…
“The money was spent to feed as many civil servants as possible who were obviously superfluous, still are and will always be.”
the money was also stolen by yall and given away to criminal minorities to uplift themselves…while ya own black people suffer…yall did that..both DBLP..right through 3 generations of black bajans..
so come again…who ya blaming for that…
“The money was spent to mask the lack of productivity, the lack of motivation and the lack of self-responsibility of broad sections of the population and to create the illusion of prosperity.”
the money was stolen by yall…misused and abused..to keep ya own people in POVERTY…while yall tief it and help ya BRIBERS..i have seen the sizes of ya many, many houses and apartment buildings…one lowlife even boasted about having an island in the Grenadines…THIEF..
so come again..who ya blaming for that..
And then there is the FACT…that all of you crooks and criminals in parliament..the older crooks are millionaires…including your bribers the criminal minorities…while at least 80% of the island lives in abject poverty…
so explain that….tell us how come all of ya are wealthy and the people and island are POOR…
and yall still running around begging and trying to suck up everything…ILLEGALLY..at the same time..
explain that..
#findsomeoneelsetotieffrom
#shopshut -
@ John
The only problem should be that of cashflow.
We plan for these impositions and these changes are disruptive and uncaring. Most Barbadians pay their taxes. When unnecessary changes are made they discourage and upset the taxpayers who are mostly pensioners. Good tax planning factors in the culture of the tax. That is a very good reason to exclude consultants who do not understand our way of life, nor appreciate our values.Trying to be smart is not we culture.
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@Vincent
Well stated.
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“the tax’ should read “the taxed”. Not my fault. It is the foolish autocorrective algorithm. I glad I went school and learn good.
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When will it end right. When yall get rid of this last lot of toxic demons, polluting an already cursed and blighted parliament.
https://www.facebook.com/100000602493169/posts/2610050699024988/?sfnsn=
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@ John A
The best advice I can give you is to sell your land.
You have mentioned prices being %30 less in value all around.
So instead of being an asset it is moving in the direction of a liability.
I did with a piece of land in valued excess of BD$$400,000 several years ago which took about 6 months via major Realtor to find a buyer.
I took the decision as the contractors I asked to build for quotes based on Approved Plans seemed dodgy and not realistic in time frame required for completion.
In Barbados you are shitting up in shite creek as most of the lawyers will take your money whilst promising results in a never never timeframe of spinning wheels.
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Always spouting negative read bile. I
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@ Waru
They spit out big numbers for Projects to dumb down the average Bajan who make up the masses.
This is their proganda to justify taxing and all kind of dubious expenditures.
Who would believe a little 2 x 4 island like Barbados would build a Prison for $700 million almost $3/4 Billion.
Nuff nuff steel in these big money projects with no oversight or accountability.
The blogmaster invites you to join the discussion.