OPPOSITION Leader Bharrat Jagdeo, who during his tenure as President never voluntarily raised public servants’ salaries by more than 5%, wants to see a substantial increase in salaries for public sector employees reflected in the budget to be presented on Friday. He is also calling for increased subventions for pensioners, a reduction of the Value Added Tax (VAT)–which he had introduced–from 16 per cent to 10 per cent, the reinstatement of the “Because we care” programme, reduced electricity rates and a reduction in vehicle taxes all reflected in the 2016 budget to be read by Finance Minister Winston Jordan.
Jagdeo, responding to a question from the Guyana Chronicle at a press conference held at Freedom House on Wednesday, said that his party is willing to accept a reduction in all taxes should those be announced by government. “We have seen the proposed reduction in vehicle taxes; we support any reduction in taxes that is an election promise,” said the former President. Under the PPP administration, both Jagdeo and his successor, Donald Ramotar, had resisted lowering VAT;did not substantially increase public servants pay,and did not reduce electricity tariffs among the other demands being made now.
But while the proposed reduction on vehicle taxes is a good initiative, Jagdeo believes that there is a possibility that it would lower “revenue overall.” He said if there is no increase in demand for new vehicles due to affordability, then there would be no increase in revenue. “A poor person still would not be able to get the acquisition cost of a new vehicle, forget the taxes. We hope, there would be reduction in taxes on re-conditioned vehicles too… if [they are] looking to help the ordinary people. Another class of people, ordinary people, could benefit,” he added.
The Opposition Leader noted that his party will throw its full support behind the government should it fulfil its promise to reduce taxes, as lower taxes can be seen as another stimulus and “that is what we need in a time of hardship.”
“Any taxes that the government will reduce, we will support them on, especially the VAT, which was part of their campaign [Promise]. They said they needed a bit more time, now we are hoping they’ve made a decision and we’d see the VAT coming from 16% to 12%. This is very important and it is part of their election promise,” he stressed. It was under Jagdeo that the 16% VAT regime was introduced.
Additionally, Jagdeo expressed hope that within this year’s budget, public servants will receive a “substantial increase in wages and salaries.” He argued that the one-off $50,000 grant that was provided to public servants at the end of the year was not part of their salary base and as such, government now has to provide a large cushion to public servants.“…they just got it as a grant; it will not be added to their salaries. You now have to have a huge salary increase to compensate for that,” he said at the media briefing. Under the PPP administration, both Jagdeo and Ramotar had consistently imposed a 5% pay hike on public servants without negotiating with their unions.
Likewise, the Opposition Leader believes that pensioners also need to receive a substantial increase. “We have calculated that the pensioners are worse off last year after the budget than they were. For many of them, the cost of water and electricity subsidy was greater than what they got in their increase in pension.”
On the issue of reinstating the “Because we care” cash grant into the budget, Jagdeo said his party doesn’t necessarily want to see an increase in the grant. He said he wants the programme to be restarted as many persons stand to benefit once again. While he lauded the President’s Three Bs initiative, the Opposition Leader said that alone is not sufficient. “Even if they don’t want to give $20,000 or more, but they should put back the $10,000 in the budget.” He disclosed that his party will be submitting a list of questions relative to the Three Bs initiative as he said most of the vehicles provided are labelled “David G.”
“These donations made by private individuals, are they personal donations to the President? Because I see his name on them. If [they are] personal donations would they form part of his declarations to the Integrity Commission or are they donations to the Government of Guyana… if so, will they be recorded in the government register of assets? We would also like to see who donated— names, how much and whether any individuals have any contracts or supply the government,” Jagdeo said.