Government missed opportunity to implement measures to have direct positive impact on citizens -Opposition Leader

Government missed opportunity to implement measures to have direct positive impact on citizens  -Opposition Leader

By Svetlana Marshall

Leader of the Opposition, Aubrey Norton, has described the 2025 National Budget as one that will have very little impact on the lives of the majority of citizens.

In an interview with News Source, Mr. Norton said with the Oil and Gas Sector now raking in billions of US dollars annually, the Irfaan Ali Administration could have reduced the Value Added Tax and implement several other measures that would have impacted all citizens more.

“The average Guyanese would have benefited more, if they had brought the VAT down from 14% to say 10%. Because, what that means is that every Guyanese who going out there and purchase, they will be spending less because they are paying less,” the Opposition Leader explained.

Norton said the Government has opted to provide a number of “piecemeal” tax measures that are not likely to benefit the majority of Guyanese.

Senior Minister with responsibility for Finance, Dr Ashni Singh, in presenting the 2025 Budget on Friday, announced the removal of VAT on agriculture machinery and back-up generators. The other tax measures included raising the Income Tax Threshold from $100,000 to $130,000 and a further $10,000 tax reduction per child.

But the Opposition Leader said the move to raise the Income Tax Threshold and the $10,000 non-taxable measure would not benefit thousands of Guyanese including members of the Joint Services whose salaries were set a minimum of $130,000 in late 2024, and Guyanese who continue to work for $100,000 or less.

“We had said a minimum of $200,000 to $400,000 for the threshold but for people to benefit you had to increase their wages to at least $200,000 per month, then and only then you would have been able to use your tax measures to help. And that is why I went straight to VAT because all of these $10,000 and $5000 here will not impact the small man because their income is small. If you give people a livable income then they will have a high income, and then some of them would apply,” Norton explained.

The Opposition Leader also roasted the Government for adding just $5,000 to the old age pension and $3000 to Public Assistance, while boasting of the highest economic growth in the world.

Norton also expressed disappointment in what he considers to be the Government’s failure to further diversify the economy. While the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew by 43.6%, the non-oil economy saw a growth rate of 13.1%.

He said the Government continues to mismanage the country’s resources, while focusing heavily on infrastructure development and not human resource development.

“All the Government is doing, is mismanaging the resources that are made available as a result of oil. But you are not seeing any planning and prudent management. You are announcing how many schools you are building; you are announcing how many hospitals you are building but you not telling us where you getting the nurses, the doctors, and teacher to staff them because they are presently understaffed. They are getting into all of this construction for corruption purpose, wastage and corruption,” Norton said.

Mr. Norton said that despite the Budget surpassing $1 Trillion in 2024, many of the major development projects remain incomplete and have faced delays, including the new Demerara Bridge, and the Gas-to-Energy Project.

On the upside, the Opposition Leader said he was pleased to hear about the advancements made in the production corn and soya, noting that it signals the opening up of a new industry.

He said similar initiatives should be made in the areas of mining, and allied science and technology to further diversify the economy and support the manufacturing sector.

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