Basseterre, St.Kitts (January 23rd 2011);- People’s Action Movement Leader Lindsay Grant joined thousands of workers in the federation in expressing concern over what is essentially a reduced paycheque for their first salary of 2011.
The January paycheque of salaried workers in the federation was not only the first paycheque of 2011 but was also the first paycheque with the recently increased social service levy. It is also the first check that will have much less value as with the introduction of VAT , the raised social services levy and the 85% increase in electricity a $2000 cheque in economic and cost of living terms will get you far less than it did just a year ago.
“Most workers in St. Kitts and Nevis have each penny of their wages and salaries carefully allocated and simply cannot afford to lose any more after the punitive Value Added Tax,” said People’s Action Movement Leader Lindsay Grant.
“There is no appetite for any more increases in taxes in this country. The VAT, electricity bills and gas increase are already too much for workers that have seen the value of their wages and salaries fall steadily over the years. Shopping is a traumatic experience as the amount of foodstuff the budget allotment can purchase continues to dwindle” Grant lamented.
According to information revealed by the IMF and ECCB this is just the beginning. There is simply too much to pay out to pay down the massive $3billion debt and very little is being collected in terms of revenues. With the recently announced global increase in food prices that many experts including the FAO expect this year, there will be serious consequences for workers especially the poorest .
The introduction of the myriad of taxes and raised levies and utility rates came after years of what experts described as fiscal mismanagement by the current labour administration. The IMF strongly suggested that a combination of both revenue and expenditure measures is needed to maintain primary fiscal surpluses along with structural fiscal reforms over the medium term to underpin fiscal and debt sustainability.
Grant indicated that the IMF highlighted the governments mismanagement in it’s 2010 Article IV Consultation report and laid the blame for the burdens being borne by the people of St.Kitts-Nevis at the feet of the Dr. Denzil Douglas led labour administration.
“The IMF consultation report clearly suggested and emphasised the need for proper FISCAL MANAGEMENT,” said Grant. “This in my view suggests that the IMF shares the sentiments of the People’s Action Movement, the experts and the majority of nationals living here in St.Kitts-Nevis that the current administration has been reckless in it’s fiscal policy and can only be described as gross FISCAL MISMANAGEMENT by the labour government. This 15 years of fiscal mismanagement has now resulted in the suffering of our people with the introduction and proposed introduction of these plethora of burdensome taxes and raised levies and utilitity rates including Personal Income Tax which is rumoured to be a consideration by the government. Our people simply can’t handle this much burden in this depressed economy and tough economic times,” Grant opined.
