Tobago party: Govt must be creative in budget

Tobago Trinidad Movement political leader Jermaine Raymer on Wednesday appealed to the Government not to introduce new taxes in the October 5 budget presentation.

Raymer made the statement in a press release on Wednesday, after consulting party members.

He said, "The national budget should focus on the acquiring of foreign revenue to support the growth and development of the local economy and should not seek to add any new or extended taxes to the population to earn revenue to support its expenditure."

Raymer said the budget's primary focus should be providing incentives for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and earning foreign income.

The cancellation of Carnival 2021 is a blow, he said, as it is usually a major revenue earner for SMEs.

"The fallout due to the covid19 pandemic...cannot be sustained through financial support from the Government. This will be another major shortfall that has to be borne by the small business sector of TT, some of which will not survive this economic dilemma."

Raymer said the population bears that burden and called on the Government to be innovative.

"One hopes that Government will be creative enough to achieve a balance between its social obligations and economic obligations.”

Raymer is pessimistic the PNM Government can achieve that balance.