NASSAU, BAHAMAS — Opposition Shadow Finance Minister Kwasi Thompson yesterday suggested that the government slash by half its allocations for foreign travel, consultancies, and special celebrations, which he said would provide tens of millions of dollars to support the expansion of social welfare programs in the country.
The East Grand Bahama MP, while making his contribution to the debate on the resolution to increase the minimum wage, said that while the Free National Movement fully supports the increase in the country’s minimum wage from $210 to $260, the actions or lack thereof by the Davis administration has damaged any positive effects that the public may feel from the increase.
He further noted that even with the increase, the minimum wage will be insufficient to cover the real cost of living in The Bahamas as it has not kept up with inflation.
“The Government must stop the arrogance and listen to the people who it seeks to serve. The Government is asking everyone to sacrifice but has not made concrete steps itself to sacrifice,” said Thompson.
“Instead, they went ahead and added VAT back on to medicines, bread basket items, baby care items and feminine health products. Unlike other countries, they added taxes and still chose not to work together with the business community to find solutions to help Bahamian families struggling with the sudden spike in inflation,” he continued.
Thompson urged the government to immediately eliminate the VAT on medicines, all essential foodstuffs, and other items that had previously been zero-rated. He also called upon the government to expand the social services voucher programme to provide direct support to qualifying families in need.
Thompson repeated the opposition’s recommendation to re-instate the 12 percent VAT on real estate transactions over $2 million and consider dropping the floor to $1 million in order to increase the revenue yield from high-end real estate transactions. “This was a tax break to the wealthy that was not and is not warranted,” said Thompson.
He further suggested that the government “Cut in half the allocations for foreign travel, for consultancies and for special celebrations and events.
“This would provide tens of millions of dollars in budgetary allocation to support the expanded spending on social welfare programmes,” he claimed.
