New Measures, Including Tax on Data Services, ‘Extremely Mild’

Dean Barrow

Outside the House, the Prime Minister referred to the proposed budget as being a case of ‘steady as she goes.’ But in the case of the new taxes, did he seem to be going back on his announcement on Thursday that there would be no new taxes in the Budget? Barrow doesn’t seem to think so. And he told us that the Government has managed to avoid annoying the bondholders and so provoking a review of the already twice-restructured Superbond, or calling in of other debts.

Prime Minister Dean Barrow

“The adjustments overall are extremely mild. I think this is a ‘steady as she goes’ budget. With respect to the G.S.T. now on data services, it is as I explained: we all know that there has been a shift away from the regular voice calls to data, and as a consequence the G.S.T. collections have fallen steeply. We will have to replace that loss, and this is the logical way to do it.”

Reporter

“How much revenue do you hope to raise from this new measure?”

Prime Minister Dean Barrow

“That I think is about six million dollars. Overall, as I said, the new measures including having Government pay its G.S.T., will raise about twenty million. I think the shift to collecting G.S.T. now on data gives us about six, or perhaps a little more.”