Fahy on Throne Speech: Business & Finance
Michael Fahy, BDA Spokesperson for Finance and Business, responded to portions of the Throne Speech dealing with the business and the economy. His full statement follows below:
We are pleased to hear the confirmation that the Government will implement savings of at least $150 million. We will scrutinise carefully where such savings will be made and whether any such savings can be to service the debt.
The big news of the day is the confirmation of the tax exemption regime being extended to 2035. This will give some comfort to International Business (IB) during the global economic downturn and will assist in long term planning for IB. The BDA and the Chamber of Commerce have proposed that this exemption be extended so we are pleased that the Government has included this.
We would like to hear more on the Economic Empowerment Zone extensions – which has also been proposed by the BDA. In the meantime we urge the Government to change the import duty system for retailers to at least make duty payable at the point of sale. The retail sector is struggling and this would be a huge step in the right direction. In addition the decentralization of Government offices and relocation to the East and West ends of various civil service departments would certainly boost those local economies.
The fact remains that the three Ministers whose portfolios overlap in terms of the economy have their work cut out for them. The BDA will be pleased however to support the Government in any way we can to improve the Bermuda economy and will participate on any economic boards to ensure all ideas and plans to save the economy are canvassed.
We would also like to see:
- (i) a Low Income Payroll Tax bracket for businesses with employees making $50,000 annual salary or less, with a reduced percentage tax on both the employee and employer.
- (ii) Review the potential for Worker Cooperatives (for example giving Works and Engineering workers a piece of the pie by lease to buy vehicle programs and ring fenced access to government contracts)
- (iii) Expand the influence and authority of the Bermuda First initiative.
It is important to incentivise IB and encourage them to move to Bermuda and indeed remain. This report sets a blue print for this. We pray the Government will take on board this report more fully.
