Following the presentation of the 2015 budget by Chief Minister and Minister of Finance, Mr Hubert Hughes, in the House of Assembly on Friday, December 12, was the commencement of the debate on Tuesday, December 16.
All three Opposition Members took the opportunity to speak on the budget address, delivered by Mr Hughes, which included the estimates of recurrent expenditure, recurrent revenue and capital expenditure. The first opposition speaker was Mr Edison Baird, former Minister of Social Development now an Independent Candidate for the 2015 general election.
“Madam Speaker, I can’t help but notice that this is one of the smallest budgets that I have ever seen in this House and I have been in this House for 20-plus years. It is only 19 pages. It is less than a term paper that one would submit at a good college or university,” Mr Baird observed. “We are told that there will be no increases in taxation and, Madam Speaker, that is good. But there are certain things in this budget that are very troubling, for example: the reserves that the Government has only amount to 30.47 million EC dollars – and it takes about 11 million EC dollars to run the recurrent expenditure of this country on a monthly basis. To put it another way, the Government does not have even enough reserves to cover three months of recurrent expenditure.
“I also notice, Madam Speaker, that growth for 2014 is estimated to be 0.94 percent. This speaks volumes because if a country can only grow at less than one percent, it has implications for employment, it has implications for expenditure and it has implications for revenue. Most countries, Madam Speaker, when they seek to get themselves out of economic recession, have to grow the economy.”
Mr Baird said he was very disillusioned when he saw the above projected low economic growth in Anguilla. “It means that very few jobs would have been created in 2014,” he continued. “We all know this to be true; we all see pockets of young people standing by different bars and under trees; and why are they doing this? For the simple reason that the economy has not grown; and if the economy has only grown by less than one percent, it means that very few jobs would have been created over that 12-month period. If the economy has only grown by 0.94 percent, it means…that Government would have experienced difficulty in collecting revenue. And that is true, Madam Speaker. We only have to look at the budgetary address and we are told that very few dollars have been spent on capital expenditure – that is the construction of roads.
“Why is it, Madam Speaker, that the whole Valley area, in terms of roads, is in a deplorable state? Why is it, Madam Speaker, that the road running from the Rev Carty Avenue and the North Hill road juncture going south to jumbo plaza has not paved? The reason is very straightforward. It is because the moneys allocated for capital expenditure had to be diverted to current expenditure in order to pay the civil servants.”
Mr Baird also observed that for 2015 economic growth was estimated to be 1.27 percent. “That is an estimate and it is most likely that the economy will not grow – and again it has implications for high levels of unemployment and with no money available for capital projects such as roads. Madam Speaker, we must ask ourselves the question: why is it that this Government – and I was part of it for three and a half years – had no plan for the development of this country? They are having these difficulties and shooting in the dark because there is no plan, [just] ad hoc development.”
Meanwhile, Mr Othlyn Vanterpool, the Anguilla United Front’s Opposition Member, applauded the Government for not introducing any new taxes in the 2015 budget. He noted, however, that it was an election year and that the Government was aware that it would have been to its disadvantage to further tax the people of the island. He pointed out that the taxes already imposed by the Government, since coming into office, have had a crippling effect on individuals and businesses.
Mr Vanterpool went on: “Madam Speaker, Anguillians are still struggling to meet their basic needs. These are water, electricity, food, medication, rent, just to name a few. They are struggling badly. They are even finding it difficult to send their children to school – and without having lunch – and today schools have to be introducing school-feeding programmes to help the situation.”
The Opposition Member quoted the Chief Minister as saying that he was demitting office at a time when he was able to stabilise the island’s financial situation. “When we were told that there would not be any increases in taxes, we have not heard about a decrease in any of the taxes or levies,” Mr. Vanterpool further stated. “Madam Speaker, I would have liked to hear the Chief Minister telling us that he had reduced, maybe, the Stabilisation Levy, or something else, in order to allow the people of Anguilla to have a bit more disposable income in their pocket. That would have been something for the Chief Minister to say he did before leaving the House.”
Mr Vanterpool further quoted the Chief Minister as saying that the 2015 budget would have a surplus of approximately 5.83 million dollars, thus stabilising the island’s finances. “I am glad, Mr Speaker, that the country’s finances have been stabilised, according to the Honourable Chief Minister,” he continued. “Madam Speaker, my question is: If we have gotten so far, with the country’s finances now stabilised, why aren’t we beginning to roll back on the Stabilisation Levy? Or, why aren’t we at least cutting it back by half, or whatever, because it has served its purpose? It was said it was interim. It was started in 2011 and was supposed to be there for one year. We are now in 2014 and going into 2015 and it is still interim.”
The Opposition Member also commented on the need to remove the six percent surcharge on basic food items. He said in part: “Madam Speaker, now that the finances have been stabilised, I would have liked to hear the Chief Minister say that we would remove the customs surcharge, and may be the full duties, from some of the basic and essential items to give some relief to the people of Anguilla. These items include milk, sugar, flour, rice and pampers. I have been told that there are no duties on them. I said earlier that there is the customs surcharge.”
He added: “There may be no duty, but the people are still paying six percent on the items. I am saying, take off the six percent as well. Things in Anguilla may be duty free, but certainly they are not tax-free; and it is time that we give our people a break.”
