OBA: ‘Budget Will Increase The Cost Of Living’
“Virtually everything done in the Budget today targets the local market and will leave Bermudians worse off,” according to Opposition Leader Craig Cannonier.
Mr Cannonier said, “The foreign currency purchase tax will be inflationary, putting up prices for Bermudians as almost everything is imported and paid for in foreign currency. This will push up the cost of doing business and will be passed on to the consumer through higher prices in the shops.
“The Sugar Tax will also affect a much wider range of products, although the Finance Minister did not specify which those products are. The simple fact is this: this Budget is going to significantly increase the cost of living for Bermudians.
“Recharging credit card fees is also going to hit Bermudians who pay their government bills with credit cards because they often do not have the money up front. It is an very unfair way of Government trying to claw back some money in a way that will penalize the average Bermudian.
“The retail sector is hurting badly, but Government is only proving payroll tax relief to certain large retailers. What about our small business entrepreneurs who are struggling to survive?
“The Finance Minister said ‘accordingly the Government has decided that now is not the time to extract an additional $50 million from the economy in taxes’ but failed to mention he was increasing taxes by $39m anyway. He said he was listening when he rolled back residential rental tax but in the next breath increased land tax. What is the difference?
“There are some other very noticeable things about this Budget. Raiding the sinking fund is like robbing Peter to pay Paul. It’s like saying “I have a lot of money because I did not pay my bills’. This is Government’s ‘rainy day’ money.
“GDP growth was revised down and there was hardly any mention of fintech which makes me think they are backtracking on that particular, unfulfilled, promise.
“There were no solutions, no provision for any economic stimulus, they failed to meet their own revenue and spending targets and they are not reducing Government spending, instead making Mr and Mrs Bermuda pay for their failings through increased taxes.
“There has been a total failure by the PLP to execute on any plan for economic recovery. The Government has zero ideas to stimulate the economy in order to create jobs.
“It sounded like a holding budget, trying to maintain the status quo while desperately hoping that something comes to their rescue.”
“There were no solutions, no provision for any economic stimulus, they failed to meet their own revenue and spending targets and they are not reducing Government spending, instead making Mr and Mrs Bermuda pay for their failings through increased taxes.
“There has been a total failure by the PLP to execute on any plan for economic recovery. The Government has zero ideas to stimulate the economy in order to create jobs.
“It sounded like a holding budget, trying to maintain the status quo while desperately hoping that something comes to their rescue.”
This. Right here.
25-11
25-11 mans you 100% own everything that is going wrong, You own it.
OJ. Don’t you think it was a nice gesture by the Minister to have all those schoolchildren walk with him to the HOA? After all it will be those children and others like them that will be paying off the PLP debt in the future. Pity no one has told them.
Well they will be paying off for an airport until they are senior citizens.
You really have no clue when it comes to dollars and sense. Stay with your usual 25-11 response.
I don’t think there are words that can accurately describe this level of stupidity.
most of those children are 7-10 max, add 30 years, are we now senior citizens at 40 years old?!?
You must have skipped school the day they taught math.
Their grandchildren will be paying off the Paula Cox debt mountain. Dickenson can’t handle it. He “balances the budget” by raiding the Sinking Fund, but still increased spending all over the place.
The PLP sold Bermuda to foreign bankers.
Exactly what I wanted to say. It’s like in the US. Trump is president and he’s doing a fine job. The people know what’s best.
Well…The majority rules…even if they are all fools.
16-20. 16 years of failure.
The PLP own this mess.
Go lay down, you are an embarrassment.
You will always be know as one.
Surly you jest OJ—Our current administration is doing nothing to address the core issues causing our economic malaise.
All it will take is some guts and follow through–and oh yes–hard work.
You just keep on quoting your 25-11 slogan.
You amuse us.
Thanks for the laugh.
Blessing abound and Lord knows we need them at this point.
At this rate your days of notoriety will be gone Juice.
That is even if you live in Bermuda.
One day it will be 65000 -1 with nothing to eat and you won’t be able to swipe a plastic bag that washed up on your shore except wipe your crusty a$$.
Namaste’
The fact that we are in debt $2.5B is embarrassing and your silly party caused it. Now I know that you do not understand a whole lot but you should be able to understand that $2.5B needs to be paid back and we do not print money here. The government needs to turn our economy around and taxing locals is not going to do it.
Alas the debt is not $2.5b – that is only the reported debt.
It is necessary to add the unfunded pension and medical liabilities – which are approximately $2.6 billion and unknown (the costs are not made public)respectively.
If we were in good shape financially then the budget would be OK. But we are not. We are in a financial hole, and were are still digging – in reality, the graves of those under 20 years.
Bermuda is only place in world where stores and restaurants
are a ghost town end of month, ie Lindos was
empty Saturday! And maybe two cars on road late
night into Hamilton from North Shore.
We have a huge cost of living problem that YES will be made worse by
Inexplicable widen of sugar tax and increase land tax.
The budget was easy on business
But leaves me and mrs bermudian who probably haven’t a hope in hell of obtaining a mortgage anyway regardless of rate worse off.
Politicians need to wake up the plight of how people struggle
To find not even decent homes ANY homes and fees families
There was NOTHING in budget to address this, sadly
Plp of all people seem as out of touch as everyone else
i guess you haven’t checked out news around the world to see that millions of people have been evacuated from their homes that they cannot return to, cities, villages washed away, earthquakes at rapid succession , storms tornadoes, snow in California! and you think plp is out of touch? All countries are in debt, there are phenomenal extreme weather conditions that insurance companies will be expected to pay out to so lets say Bermuda is looking more and more palatable compared to a lot of other countries and continents who are in abject poverty, no food, limited water supply, wartorn, and yet you want a rosy picture. it is what it is, but Bermuda is not in a vacuum, even though it appears that things are considered normal.there are a lot of ghost towns , check Detroit, and a lot of tent cities,take another look at Bermuda and you sill notice a slow decline of reporting on spending because there is no more money, the well is dried up.shshsh
all you morons who voted in the PLP played a part in destroying our island home and ruining the chance of any future for our generations. With no accountability for the missing money they ‘lost’ years ago. Thanks for ruining my life, PLP. But I guess everyone should be happy you got elected each time you did because apparently it was not ability after all.
OBA spent 100 million dollars on a boat race
So what is the plp doing by way of stimulating the economy?
Sit!
77million and it also had a return of over 300 million for our economy. Thats called an “investment”, although being a rabid PLP supporter I understand your confusion at this term.
BS and you know it! PWC report contained no long term expenses and showed only income potential- not real income but potential income
So unless you were a member of the OBA boys club you got scraps and the 300 million is Disney fiction money
The pwc report included all expenses. The problem with you people is your limited understanding of the word “investment”. You’re all fine with the $60m wasted on Grand Atlantic with zero return. We don’t need pwc to evalute the PLP failures, do we.
Sound like de numbers are FUZZIED to me.
You just dont get it
Money dont grow on trees
LMAO
No numbers are fuzzied. You just can’t handle the truth.
Repeat repeat repeat. That is all you can do. U have proven unequivocally that you are a MORON onion juice. Why on earth would u take it further? Lmao: good gawd man. Do some book learnin or sumthin.
“Sound like de numbers are FUZZIED to me.”
OJ, you can’t count past 3…every thing is fuzzy to you, you’re a moron.
They also don’t understand that the Grand Atlantic cost grows by the day in the form of financials costs on the money to build it, no different than the costs of the debt every day.
How much goes into it every month in maintenance for landscaping, painting etc.? No doubt that figure runs into the thousands.
The only time that PLP mess earned a little money back was thanks to the OBA renting some units to AC35 people.
67m actually but I agree with you
Why are you lying again?
yawn
Returf golf course $25m
Swimming pool $24m
Grand Atlantic including interest $60m+
$100 million? Where did that number come from please?
What about the revenue generated? Or do you say that the PwC report is a fraud?
Maddog knows much more than PWC. He is what you call “An Axspurt”. He knows more & more about less & less until he knows absolutely everything about nothing at all.
He is only one of a very large club which is much bigger than PWC.
Facts
My God…it already has…they buy trash truck…buses and no care is actually given to what is presently there…but we the people are taxed more for diminished service with these expensive toys.
PLP has failed for me!!!! ouch
Fact ~ OBA handed over an airport that generated monies
FACT: History shows that the airport seldom earned an actual PROFIT after all operating EXPENSES.
Of course the airport has always been run like every other Government department i.e. very inefficiently. Don’t be surprised when you see profits being made after expenses by the private operators for the next 30 years.
For the private operators staying within budgets matter. There is no running to taxpayers for more money when you screw up.
He still doesn’t understand this. Depriving some village of their idiot.
I have had enough of this government and the uneducated people of what ever race who have given their vote to them.
I request and require sugar tax be removed from diet soda…it does not contain sugar!
This is fraud.
Or sell each diet soda with a small restaurant sugar one for each can.
Prices are skyrocketting at the grocery store and as soon as the sugar tax was metioned sodas went up…but so did diet soda…why?
But what stokes the fire in my heart is when you attack your own…and say…we are taxing your rent…but you cannot raise your rent…now I am sorry you feel that way it hurts me to see you say that to me….because …Every…time tax is applied to Anything…the cost is added….in all things…also…govt does it….making is a hypocritical item.
Then you say you addressed landlords who were fair and timely to indicate a perceived increase due to higher cost…for their behaviours?
Wow , I thought…you want money but don’t want us to have the ability to pay you.
Good God Government….if you want money you have to give me the ability to pay you.
A weak government backed by weak people.
Didn’t see nothing allocated for 1.2 or all the gold coming to bermuda.
This was their plan all along PlP for BERMUDIANS
Increasing the land tax will have the same effect on rents as a rental tax. Landlords will not simply eat the loss. The real elephant in the room is the foreign currency purchase tax. The cost of everything just increased – for everyone. The beauty of both increases for the government is that if supporters complain at all they will demonize the retailers and landlords, not the government.
With this budget I would like to know two things, first, where is the revenue from the initial implementation of the sugar tax to offset the healthy living standards. I ask this firstly as come April 1 2019 there will be another increase of this tax to 75%. I have not seen any programs the revenue from this initial tax to offset the imports or health choices as it was laid out by the Minister of Health. Secondly, if the Minister of Finance wants to balance his budget why doesn’t he propose to all the government workers that are still on a Defined Benefits package that after an agreed apon date then all new hires will go on a Defined Contribution plan. Just a thought.
70% duty on everything with sugar innit….$14 for cerial …rents going up sorry gov…but guess what…rent going up!
Dearest bermuda…you government loves you…your rent is going up….your groceries are now almost double in cost….but vote for us again….give us your money so we can spend it!
All cost is going up!
I am looking for a job now!
Oh my Good Lord!
De onlyone can afford groceries are politicians!
Bread has sugar innit…
Milk has sugar innit…
Catsup has sugar innit…
Mayonnaise has sugar innit…
Mustard has sugar innit…
Rum is basically a sugar product…
Plp probably full of sugar too…dey want you to give them 70% more for your groceries!!!!!!!!!!
MAYONNAISE!!!! The price of mayonnaise is going up! Quick, call out the Rent a Crowd. We need to head up to the HOA next Friday.
See dat?
you have 2 choices,
leave or vote of no confidence and have them thrown out.
Hmm looks like the Department of Customs lost another fool. Go search a bag.
Remember. Bishop Caines splashed out money for pepper spray? Buying votes plp. Think about it.
We need ideas not finger pointing come on people.
1 price freeze on healthy foods and things of no duty paid
2 true rental value for properties regardless of location
3 united health insurance compatible with private sector
4 forign worker income tax over 80k
5 international business buyin to gov capital projects(sports centers,school refurbishments)
6 gov assistance revamp
7 no travel for those who owe fines, childsupport,or in credit assos.
8 regiment to be full time(use down time to help W&E, Parks dept, Ag & Fish complete projects
9 rain day projects for gov workers(outside workers)
10 bar and nightclub tax
11 mandatory community projects for all churches(feeding, housing,neighborhood cleanup,adopt a school paras)
fool who wrote this story
So sad, we have 2 Bermuda’s the public sector and the private sector, this government continues to take care of its own government worker!!
The private sector is also part of Bermuda, don’t forget now.
And we’re the ones who have been losing jobs left right and center. Wonder how many government jobs have been lost?…….we all know the answer. We r doomed.