Manning: Taxes will be passed on to consumers

SAN Fernando East MP Brian Manning said many of the new taxes and tax-hikes proposed in the budget will hurt businesses and will also ultimately be passed on to the ordinary consumer.

He identified these as the bank/insurance levy, container-processing fee increase, landlord surcharge, LPG price-hike and single-use plastic tax.

Manning spoke in the House of Representatives on October 17, as MPs began debate on the October 13 budget presentation by Finance Minister Davendranath Tancoo.

Manning claimed the finance minister was now being referred to as "Taxcoo," an echo of Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar once dubbing the former finance minister "Taxbert."

He said the budget was "fake and fraudulent."

Manning alleged trade union leaders were not helping their members, but only focused on their own interests in alignment with the UNC in what he termed "this coalition of chaos and confusion."

Saying Tancoo in his public remarks had put both feet in his mouth, Manning accused the minister of "trying to bend light" to make unreal things look real. "It is all a distraction."

Manning criticised Tancoo's 0.25 per cent levy on the assets of banks and insurance companies due in the new year to try to raise $575 million per year in revenues.

He claimed the Bankers Association (BATT) has said the levy will affect the public.

BATT had in fact said it hoped to meet the minister to discuss the mechanics of implementing the levy.

BATT hoped the levy "minimises negative effects on expansion activities and preserves the stability of the banking sector, while carefully balancing the government’s need for additional revenue with the promotion of sustainable economic growth."

Manning argued, "This will increase the cost of everything. Banking fees will go up across the board.

"I don't understand how a caring government could introduce anything as ridiculous as this."

Manning said the landlord surcharge "was the property tax by another name."

Saying the government was desperate, he said they had gone back on their word.

Despite their past slogan of "axe the tax," Manning said now as soon as they had got into government they had brought in the property tax by a different name.

He questioned the $2,500 registration fee, saying, "whatever that means."

Saying the PNM's property tax was based on an annual rental value while the UNC's landlord surcharge was based on an annual rental income, Manning said, "Absolutely no difference. It means the same."

He said the surcharge would be even more expensive for affected individuals to pay than the property tax.

Manning chided the electricity surcharge of five cents per kilowatt hour for commercial and industrial clients, which Tancoo expects to earn $269 million in government revenues.

"Every single business will pass this on to consumers."

Likewise, Manning said a 100 per cent hike in container processing fees will be passed on by businesses to consumers.

"Every single item imported, the price is going to go up."

Lamenting a rise in excise duties on alcoholic drinks, Manning dubbed Tancoo "a grinch" and asked what he had against Christmas.

He hit the proposed $15,000 penalty for dangerous driving, accusing the government of trying to make money where people were dying on the road, dubbing it "blood money."

Manning said the five per cent tax on single-use plastics would add to the costs of almost every business that prepares foodstuffs.

Criticising the ten per cent duty and 12.5 per cent VAT on electric cars with over $400,000, Manning said the former government had tried to encourage the use of electric vehicles.

Manning remarked that the previous speaker, Minister in the Ministry of Energy Ernesto Kesar, had notably not said the government would give the Pointe-a-Pierre refinery to the OWTU.

For a moment, he adopted the guise of a salesman for the government's proposed Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) for which Tancoo said citizens could buy shares in State assets.

He viewed such assets as including the Hilton Hotel and packages of mortgages held by the TT Mortgage Bank, the latter of which he estimated to be worth $6 billion. "Minister of Finance, you're welcome."