Chamber Of Commerce Response To Budget
The Chamber of Commerce says that it is “pleased with the direction the Minister is going in” following today’s [Feb 21] budget.
A spokesperson said, “The Chamber thanks the Minister for his willingness to consult and for the pre-budget document. The Chamber has taken advantage of this opportunity to discuss and provide information to the ministry regarding the consequences of these proposals to enable more informed decision-making.
“In reviewing the statement, we were pleased to see the following items included:
- The simplification of duty deferment for retail operations
- The set up a Green Energy Fund and the focus on solar and sustainability
- The creation of an economic diversification department and a resulting plan for Bermuda- something we have not seen in the past
- The creation of a competent person register for planning works
- Focus on the collection of outstanding taxes such as payroll taxes and stamp duty – we also liked the potential factoring of the debts owed
- Changes to payroll tax bands to stimulate hiring by small to medium-sized businesses
“The above represent areas that the Chamber has been lobbying for in the past several months and quite a few tie into the Chambers economic diversification report by the Cornell and Queens University EMBA students.
“Other positives were the future efforts to stimulate the real estate market. The consultation that resulted in no new corporate services taxes and the managed service tax idea being discarded is also positive.
“The 60/40 change to a 40/60 requires more examination. The Chamber would support a more structured relaxation of the rule as it applied to specific industries.
“Over all the Chamber is pleased with the direction the Minister is going in, and we applaud his efforts to be more collaborative. We still would like continued efforts to lower the overall cost of government so the business community can be assured that taxes will not be increased in the future.”
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You must be joking taking credit from a school report from idealistic academics.
Please……lobbying how? While riding pedal bikes in the morning. I think the PLP deserves more credit than that.
Can you explain above comment? Perhaps I am missing something but it makes no sense at all.
In its entirety and let companies incorporate take over provisions in their constitutions.
This is an archaic throw back piece of legislation, that is embarrassing.
time is better spent growing the economy not blocking much needed foreign direct investment.
Blessing abound…
What nonsense. It was, essentially, a do nothing budget that will have minimal impact on a dying economy. More PLP failure.