Atherley sees bus fare pain

Opposition Leader Bishop Joseph Atherley sees some financial pain coming to Barbadians who will have to deal with a hike in bus fares.

And he’s hoping BERT, the austerity programme implemented by Government last year, doesn’t eventually lead to austerity fatigue or social decay in Barbados, since there was already a contraction in economic growth.

In his maiden response to a Financial Statement and Budgetary Proposals yesterday, Atherley suggested that not even the proposed reverse tax credit ($1 300) and compensatory tax credit ($1 250) proposed the day before by Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Mia Mottley could provide enough financial cover for the thousands of Barbadians who commute to and from work every day and will now pay $3.50 per trip.

“While we hail the benefits of the reverse tax credit, when one analyses the net effect of those give-backs against the increase in bus fares, we realise that should a commuter using two fares per day to get to work 48 weeks in a year at $35 a week, arrives at a figure of $1 680 annually. Set that against the reverse tax credit, there is a net loss of $380. If you set it against the compensatory tax credit, there is a net loss of $430,” he said. (BA)

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