BASSETERRE, St. Kitts - LEADER of the Opposition Dr. Denzil Douglas has claimed that the Minister of Finance had misrepresented the 2017 Appropriation Bill that is currently being debated in the National Assembly.
The $712.9M Budget was read in the National Assembly on Wednesday (Dec. 7) by Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Dr. the Hon. Timothy Harris, which has seen several Ministries receiving less funding as against that of 2016.
Dr. Douglas pounced on those figures, claiming that the Government is trying to “mislead” the country with numbers provided in the Appropriations.
“I am saying that from the presentation of this Budget and from looking at the estimates, the Prime Minister is misleading us. That is what I am saying, I am not supposing, I am saying it is so because the figures are here.”
Rising to begin the Debate, the outspoken former PM took umbrage at what he described as a serious departure from the norm, whereby, “The Minister of Finance sought to present orally a budget, and his oral presentation was significantly a serious departure from what is in the written document.”
He noted that when there are differences on what was present orally and what was written, then it calls for an expression of serious concerns from his section of the National Assembly.
Dissecting the Budget, Dr. Douglas pointed out that a closer inspection of the tax component on International Trade would show that “the Government is projecting that relative to the previous year’s estimates, the non-refundable duty-free store levy will be down in 2017”.
“What he is saying to us is that there will be less shopping taking place here, “Dr. Douglas add3ed.
However, addressing the House immediately after dr. Douglas, Deputy Prime Minister Hon. Shawn Richards indicated that little to no research was presented by the Opposition Leader to substantiate his arguments.
“In fact, after being the Minister of Finance for some 20 years of this Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis, one is left to wonder if the Member for Number Six truly understands the budgetary process."
Douglas charged that there were no fiscal incentives presented in the Budget, which he emphasised is a serious departure from the norm, while adding that those measures are not limited to new or old taxes.
“It speaks also to the lack of ideas. No new ideas in terms of how we can stimulate the economy was presented to us yesterday (Dec. 7) in his oral presentation, Dr. Douglas stressed.
He stated that among projected falloffs were travel tax and value added tax on imported goods.
The Budget Debate continues today with Members on the Government Benches supporting the Appropriation Bill. However, this will be done in the absence of the Opposition, whose Members have boycotted the Debate.
