Tabor says Browne Administration’s plan to increase tax revenue by 8 percent will deepen the suffering of families

The Browne Administration’s plan to increase taxes by the next
budget cycle is bordering on wickedness, says Damani Tabor, public
relations officer for the United Progressive Party (UPP).

Tabor says that people are suffering already, with no immediate
improvement to their economic situation or relief from the cost of
living. Accordingly, there needs to be some meaningful intervention
on the part of the Government, he states – and not a plan to raise
taxes.

He believes the Administration needs to delay the increase or
rethink its intention to plunge the country into further hardship.
For the past three to four budget presentations, Tabor notes, Prime
Minister Gaston Browne has been asserting that other countries
enjoy a ratio of up to 25 percent tax to GDP, while Antigua and
Barbuda is only at 16 percent. Therefore, Browne reasons, the
Government needs to boost its ratio by another eight percentage
points.

What Browne fails to recognize, the UPP official says, is that those
countries might provide greater social protection and other benefits
to their citizens, so their overall cost of living might be lower. Hence,
a judgment cannot be made simply on their level of taxes.

Tabor says the people of Antigua and Barbuda are struggling to
survive on the 16 percent tax to GDP, with some already
experiencing hunger under the current system. And, yet, he states,
the Administration is planning to hike taxes by another eight
percent. 

What the people need is relief, he says, and not a heavier burden on
families. 

Meanwhile, Senator Johnathan Joseph, the UPP caretaker for St.
Mary’s North, agrees that life is not getting any easier under the
Antigua Labour Party Administration.

He says the national outlook has become really bleak and notes that
no country can progress if it fails to take care of its poor and
vulnerable.

He says that Antigua and Barbuda will move forward only when
men and women who have a heart and care for the disadvantaged
are elected to public office. 

Accordingly, Joseph is encouraging the residents of St. Mary’s South
to re-elect the UPP candidate, Kelvin “Shugy” Simon, in the
upcoming by-election, since he believes the wind of change is in the
air.