I have not yet been able to peruse and study exhaustively the 2017 budget statement. However, although I am in general agreement with the strategies set out therein, there are three areas I have identified as being in need of revisiting:
(1) The Allocation to Agriculture. The less than $900 million allocated here does not reflect the relative importance which ought to be assigned to this sector as the principal engine of growth overall and in diversifying the economy. One gets the impression that the fault could very well lie with the minister and his advisers who, if they do not display the push required, could be finding themselves being squeezed in this period of scarce financial resources.
The Minister of Finance should not be absolved from blame given the stated overall strategy for this guava season and the need to prioritise satisfactorily. Indeed he should revisit allocations to some of the loss-making and non-performing state enterprises while keeping within the overall budget allocations.
(2) Rebate To Lower-end Electricity Consumers. This runs counter to the policy of engendering self-reliance throughout the economy. One could very well make out a case for water consumers, bus commuters and travellers by the Tobago ferries, among others. It is time that citizens be weaned from this gimme gimme syndrome. This action is nothing but a political sap which cannot, in any event, assist.
What is required is for the RIC–whose duties the Minister has usurped–to at long last after about 18 years do its work in establishing rate structures which bear some relationship to cost while, if found necessary, introducing some element of cross-subsidisation. Failing this, here is one statutory authority which could, without injury, be dispensed with.
(3) Proposed Tax On High Income Earners. This proposal will not be effective unless there is in place a properly functioning and efficient Revenue Authority. I am of the view that, given the clearly observable inequity in income distribution, there is a need for a complete review of the whole spectrum of income remuneration, including run-away professional fees. The minister would be well advised to have a look at the existing tax structure with the intention of making it more progressive and equitable.
Errol.O.C.Cupid,
Trincity