Deputy Prime Minister Santia Bradshaw declared on Wednesday the Budget has challenged the perception that the Barbados Labour Party (BLP) prioritises big business over ordinary citizens.
She said: “Instead of focussing on individuals and taxing individuals repeatedly year after year, this administration and the economic team have had to focus now on corporation taxes, with the majority of our monies being accumulated by corporation taxes and. . . being able to then take those corporation taxes and ensure we are able to distribute that towards the benefit of our social service programmes.”
Bradshaw, now leads the Ministry of Environment, National Beautification and Fisheries, said that rather than placing the bulk of the tax burden on individuals, the Mottley administration is prioritising the attraction of foreign investment by maintaining economic stability and strengthening social conditions across the island.
She asserted that with the establishment of agencies such as Business Barbados, the country is increasingly viewed as an attractive destination for investors “want to move their main offices and . . . establish in this jurisdiction because, for the most part, we are relatively more safe perhaps than other territories. And they also believe that the ease of doing business is a lot better in this jurisdiction than it is in others.”
As the Budget debate entered its third day in the House of Assembly, Bradshaw was effusive in her praise of Prime Minister Mia Mottley, commending her party leader’s strong and decisive leadership in guiding Barbados through multiple crises, including the current period of global uncertainty.
“It is not by chance that in the last seven years, Prime Minister has flown the Barbados flag, and has taken her vision to the world stage,” the MP said.
Saying it was the “Mottley effect” that had helped to create such important space on the international stage that “people now listen to Barbados”.
“People now want to hear what Barbados has to say. And it is not by accident that we have a leader who has been able to open up that fiscal space because people are listening, not because she is talking for Barbados, but she is talking for all other small island states. And in turn, she is talking for the world,” she added.
Bradshaw connected the Mottley influence and fiscal management of the country to the increased cooperation of funding agencies who pumped millions of dollars into the economy through a host of infrastructural projects that range from coastal rehabilitation to the rebuilding of several roads.
“This budget has to be seen against a background of things that the Honourable Prime Minister has been doing on the world stage, which has given [finance minister Ryan Straughn] an opportunity to speak to diversification and to speak to growth in this economy as well.
One area of criticism offered by Bradshaw, however, centred on the lack of legislation that promoted the film industry through rebates for the millions invested to undertake international film productions on the island. (IMC)
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