For­mer Prime Min­is­ter and Leader of the Op­po­si­tion, Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar SC MP, has chal­lenged the Row­ley Ad­min­is­tra­tion to take a five per­cent cut in their salaries, to show sol­i­dar­i­ty with the poor and strug­gling cit­i­zens of Trinidad and To­ba­go.

For­mer Prime Min­is­ter and Leader of the Op­po­si­tion, Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar SC MP, will be pre­sent­ing a de­tailed re­sponse to the 2021 Bud­get Pre­sen­ta­tion to­day, in Par­lia­ment, from just af­ter 10 this morn­ing.

There is grow­ing con­cerns that come 2021, many per­sons may not be able to af­ford a for­eign used car far less a new one, be­cause of the re­moval of al­lowances on ve­hi­cles an­nounced in the 2020-2021 Bud­get.

The biggest chunk of the $49.573 bil­lion Bud­get for 2020/2021 has gone to the Ed­u­ca­tion and Train­ing sec­tor—with an al­lo­ca­tion of some $7.93 bil­lion.

The Gov­ern­ment will re­move fu­el sub­si­dies on pre­mi­um and su­per gaso­line come Jan­u­ary 2021, mak­ing way for gas sta­tion own­ers to set their own prices for fu­el.

The Gov­ern­ment has al­lo­cat­ed $50 Mil­lion for the pur­chase of lap­tops for needy stu­dents in the 2020/2021 Bud­get.

Over the next ten years, the Gov­ern­ment will con­struct 25,000 homes for ap­pli­cants of the Hous­ing De­vel­op­ment Cor­po­ra­tion (HDC).

The COVID-19 pan­dem­ic put a harsh spot­light on this coun­try’s food se­cu­ri­ty and Fi­nance Min­is­ter Colm Im­bert says, the Gov­ern­ment will now do all it can to en­sure that this coun­try can feed it­self.

The es­tab­lish­ment of a Tech In­vest­ment Fund and a Tech Pro­mo­tions and De­vel­op­ment Com­pa­ny will be part of the Gov­ern­ment’s new thrust in­to cre­at­ing a dig­i­tal econ­o­my.

Home and prop­er­ty own­ers will soon be man­dat­ed to pro­vide the Com­mis­sion­er of Val­u­a­tions with their prop­er­ty’s val­ue, as the Gov­ern­ment gets ready to start the col­lec­tion of prop­er­ty tax.

This, ac­cord­ing to Fi­nance Min­is­ter Colm Im­bert, as he pre­sent­ed the 2021 fis­cal pack­age in Par­lia­ment.

It’s Bud­get Day and every year like clock­work, mo­torists flood gas sta­tions, in an­tic­i­pa­tion of an in­crease in fu­el prices.