Symister says hike in ABST is the price the people will pay for Browne Administration’s rejection of Lovell’s advice

The Browne Administration failed to heed the advice of former
Finance Minister Harold Lovell, who had warned against the
abolition of Personal Income Tax (PIT), and the people of Antigua
and Barbuda will now be paying for it.

That is the opinion of Leon Chaku Symister, the United Progressive
Party (UPP) spokesperson on legal matters, who recalls that Lovell
had pointed out the importance of the PIT as a revenue stream.
The PIT had been introduced by the Spencer Administration as a
“stabilization fund” that yielded approximately $40 million annually.
but was abolished by the Browne Administration about two years
after it assumed office.
 

Lovell had predicted that getting rid of the PIT could put the
Government in serious fiscal difficulties. And now, despite massive
borrowings over the last nine years, the sitting administration finds
itself in economic straits.

As a result, it plans to increase the Antigua and Barbuda Sales Tax
(ABST) from 15 percent to 17 percent – a 13 percent hike that the
people will have to carry. The Government says the tax increase will
yield about $50 million annually.
 
Symister notes that the former tax on income was fairer and not
burdensome to most residents, because only those earning above
$3,500 a month were liable.
  
However, he says, everyone is subject to paying the ABST, no matter
their income status, and it will have significantly more impact on
those making minimum wage.
 
Symister notes that the abolition of the PIT has had the expected
consequences – a huge drop in government revenue – which the
Administration is now trying to recoup with the ABST hike.
 
And, he says, the replacement taxes that Browne had suggested
would make up for the shortfall simply have not panned out.
 
Meanwhile, the Administration is promising that the zero-rated
basket of goods will not be affected by the sales tax increase; but
Symister claims that since the Browne Administration got into office
it has reduced the number of items in the basket.

Further, the UPP spokesman says, this tax hike is coming at a time
when prices at the supermarket are increasing on a daily basis.

The sad thing about this situation, he laments, is that the Browne
Administration has done nothing to “ease the squeeze” on the
people.
 
Although the Browne Administration has collected more revenue
than any other in the history of Antigua and Barbuda, Symister
accuses it of having done less in terms of development and in
assistance to the people.
 
According to Symister, the Gaston Browne Administration is the
worst he has seen in all his life.