A senior university lecturer says the Barbados Labour Party’s (BLP) tax-cut proposal is an election gimmick, and has issued a warning against privatizing state enterprises that provide social services for the masses.
Professor of Economics at the Cave Hill Campus of the University of the West Indies (UWI), Michael Howard, yesterday gave a thumbs down to the BLP plan to restore the Value Added Tax (VAT) to 15 per cent, give a land tax ease, introduce a new tax rate for middle-income earners, and make allowances tax-free again if it is returned to Government.
He said such large tax cuts were “a relic of supply side economics of the 1980s” and not the answer to the country’s current economic problems.
Opposition Leader Owen Arthur outlined the plan at the party’s 74th Annual Conference on Sunday, promising “an immediate and comprehensive reversal” of the Democratic Labour Party’s policies if the BLP wins the general election due by next year.
