LETTER: Critical Thinkers Needed

29

Dear Editor,

It has always been said that Antiguans are not a reading public.

If that is indeed true then it has become even worse with the advent of social media.

Many are only reading headlines.

Where are the critical thinkers? Much is being made by the UPP and others, of the announcement that the Barbados government is offering relief to Bajans by reducing the taxes on certain basic items.

But Bajans pay INCOME Tax – that is tax on earnings. WE DO NOT. Bajans pay 12.5% income tax if they earn between 0 and $50,000 per year and 28.5% if they earn over $50,000. Plus, Bajans pay 17.5 % VAT or as we call it ABST.

So, the Barbados government has already taken 12.5% from the lower earners and now is giving back a few percent. Big Deal. We pay no Income Tax in Antigua and Barbuda. Which would we prefer? At least we have all of our income that we have earned in our pocket and we can decide what to buy. And the basic food items are already part of the basic of goods which are price controlled.

The UPP is suggesting all types of give aways, but has not to date told us how they will pay for those give aways. In the lead up to the 2004 elections the UPP promised no new taxes. Within 2 years, they introduced Income Tax. Any critical thinker will know that the money for the giveaways has to come from somewhere.

Based on the levels of give aways being promised by the UPP, they will have to re-introduce Personal Income Tax at a rate of at least 35%. And even then, they will have a big short fall. Think long and hard about that.

Think, my people, think. Read, research, analyse.  Stop allowing yourself to be fooled. Money does not appear out of the sky. We need money for health, education, roads, to pay Police, Teachers, nurses etc. That money has to come from taxes. Luckily for us, the ABLP government has been able to manage the economy without digging into our earnings.

They have not done like other governments who have taken our money through income tax and then given relief with a tiny portion of our same taxes.

 

Regards,

Paul

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29 COMMENTS

  1. This has to be Fitzroy wrote this letter, Paul must be his middle name alot of these letters surfacing now as campaign tactics. We are critical thinkers and will stop the generation voting because of great grandparents support this or that party . That is a slave mentality . Time for a change this is the worst labour Party ever. We are voting them out!

    • You saying it doesn’t make it true. Just present the facts to back your claim. Because the facts that are out there published by reputable institutions like ECCB, ECLAC and other suggest Antigua was the fasted growing economy at one time, and were it not for Guyana finding oil it would have been the largerst in growth. The only year we had negative growth is in 2020. And we all know the reason for that. And still the year after 2021, although we are still in a pandemic, this Gaston Browne led administration was able to grow the economy once again. We slowy but surely are having a shortage in construction workers and other professionals. Tourism is seeing peek levels again. What are you talking about. Are you living under a rock. Well perhaps you should stay there.

      • @A-Team
        If labour is re-elected, Antigua finish anyway as with their bad credit rating, nobody going to lend them money and as they survive on credit, Antigua will become a failed state.how

      • @From The Sideline
        How did this fastest growing economy manifest itself? Did poor Antiguans see an increase in their salaries? A lot of them still making starvation wages of less than $2000 per month and living in poverty. Don’t tell me about construction jobs in Barbuda as they are not going to last forever unless Gaston gives away more of Antigua and Barbuda lands.

        • You know it is sad when lessons of macroeconomics have to be explained to inept persons of the UPP. Growing an economy is not about putting lots of money in one’s person’s pocket. It’s about increasing the aggregate of goods and services in this country. It’s about FDI. It’s about lowering the unemployment rate. It’s not about you making baseless uneducated statements and then wanting to sound intelligent by asking me these questions. It’s about increasing the homeownership of the people. It’s about people being able to purchase more consumer goods. Like how over six thousand duty-free cars have been brought in. It’s about people having more saving in the bank. That is why many were able to withstand the fallout of the pandemic. It’s about more people starting a new business and getting assistance from the entrepreneurial fund. It’s about young people who were assisted in getting tertiary education through government grants and scholarships. It’s about improvements made in our healthcare services. So that services that couldn’t be performed before are now available on Island. In all the quality of people’s lives has improved over the years. Flash back to 2008/9 we were in such a depressed economy; bank repossessed homes was the order of the day. Repossessed cars were piling up at Shaw Brothers. Begging was the order of the day. Fastforward to 2020. Covid hit both health and economy very hard all over the world. Many starting the preach gloom and doom. Yet the opposite happens. Construction not only in Barbuda, but also here in Antigua continues uninterrupted, with the government taking the lead with its housing projects. And since after tourism, construction is the main driver of the economy, the economy keeps growing allowing us to cushion the fallout from Covid on our economy. June 2020 the government realizes that keeping the country locked down will cause a greater disaster. They therefore decided that the country should remain open, and people should just follow protocol and eventually learn to live with Covid. What a great vision. History has proven that to be the smartest move ever. And today the entire world is acting accordingly. Accept China. Foresight and Vision you just cannot buy. You either have it or you don’t. That is why we thank God for this Gaston Browne government. Poor people will always be in our midst and as we strive to empower more people, we can see many more people moving up the social ladder into the middle class. How can we see that? Homeownership and Car ownership are increasing. And many more youth are able to pursue a tertiary education with the establishment of the UWI Campus here at an affordable rate. Education is the key to getting out of poverty. With higher education the youth will demand higher wages. Another Vision of this great man Gaston Browne. Empower the people and slowly but sure built an economic powerhouse.

  2. I want the UPP to provide timelines as to when their pie in the sky promises will be implemented. I stop saying they are not doable but want the UPP mouthpieces to say when exactly can we see these election commitments being honored.

    Paul you are so right…Peter will definitely have to pay for what they said they are giving you.

    • Has the ABLP delivered on its promises of 500 homes in 500 days and water in 14 days you dam hypocrite, so why should the UPP when up to now the ABLP promises HAVE NOT BEEN DONE!
      I would rather trust the UPP who look out for the poor man than a bunch of renegades who enrich themselves from the nation’s purse.

      • Boss I cant believe you dwelling on the 500 homes in 500 days story still. Even if it took 1000 days THEY WERE DELIVERED and this is what matters. By the way more than 500 homes were delivered so stop let that be your gripe.

        Now I am asking the right questions about UPP and their plans that has you riled up even more.

        When exactly should we expect the implementation of the UPP promises if they get into office? That is what smart people want to know.

        • @Just Saying
          You want them to tell you so that labour can cog them? Harold Lovell has laid out some plans and if you don’t think they are enough, vote UPP and see what happens. The labour governments have been the worst governments for Antigua. And this current one is only interested in thieving and getting rich. That’s the only reason they want power.
          I am sure I heard Gaston say that he enriched all his baby mamas. Like the one who got all the government lands at Pfryes Hill for swamp lands she didn’t own.
          How can you people support a government like this? You are real suckers.

      • @poverty….The Prime Minister never said everyone would have water in 14 days! Go look at the video again. He said that the water situation would improve in 14 days and it did.

      • While you are still stuck at 500 homes in 500 days, we have already moved to over a thousand homes and counting. And while you are also stocked at water in 14 days, we are delivering RO plant after RO plant and put any future water problems to rest for good.
        the way the UPP looked out for the poor man is to give them fish and feed them for the day. The ABLP is about teaching them to fish, so that they can feed themselves for life.

    • What timelines have you requested of Gaston Browne? He has the worst track record of delivering on time and showing side word.

      • ATLEAST they were delivered…The question remains which is the right question is WHEN WILL UPP DELIVER ON ALL OF THESE PROMISES?

        This is what any smart thinking person should be asking then your commonsense will click in to then know all their ideas are PIE IN THE SKY.

  3. Sir, Critically Thinking why compare Antigua to anywhere. I’m critically thinking to come up with unique solutions designed for Antigua. Critical thinker are also know as original thinkers. Since all places are not alike you must consider cultural norms, size and population.

  4. But how many of you were actually paying income tax? Many people didn’t even meet the threshold. We’re definitely not a listening or reading public

    • That was the mistake the UPP made. They thought that only 25% would be affected by the introduction of the PIT. However, they were wrong. They wiped out the whole middle class that was just coming up. And then we had the trickledown effect, that saw many firing their gardener, reducing the days of the housekeepers and many other such related spending. Where there is no vision, the people perish. Less money for the hairdressers and so on. That is why you need to do a white paper before you implement things such as these. You must know the impact that will have.

  5. You can jump high and jump low, ABLP MUST GO! Arwe hab enough of dem RENEGADES. We gave them a fair chance and all they have done is to self enrich themselves. Arwe larn arwe lesson so mek UPP FIX THE DAMN MESS NOW. No government can ever treat us the way ABLP has treated us. Gu lang ABLP arwe tiad a aryu.

    • Too bad for you, but you are in a very small minority. There are more of us than of you. And that will be so for a many many many more years to come.

  6. Think about what Antiguans are getting back in return for all those lands that this Gaston Browne administration is grabbing for themselves, their families and friends, and or giving away to their financiers.
    Think about what this Gaston Browne administration is doing with all this CIP revenue, consumption tax revenue, and millions of dollars borrowed.
    Ask Gaston and your fellow comrades, Ah well the Election Money Tree plant.
    Tell Antigua 🇦🇬 and Barbuda people why labour’s party government nah pay back loans.

  7. Wey the election money 💰 tree plant?

  8. @Paul or whom ever you are

    I would ask you, where is Gaston getting the money to do what he is doing? Borrowing all over the place. He is building houses but have to borrow the money. Would you live on your credit cards? How are all these borrowers going to be repaid and how much of Antigua’s lands is he giving up.
    Barbados is far more developed than Antigua and the people pay taxes for the upkeep of their country. St. John’s and a lot of Antigua is a big stinking dump. Why is this so? Is it because the government doesn’t have the money to clean up and maintain the place or they are as we say in Antigua “wotless” with no civic pride?
    You are right a lot of Antiguans are poor and not critical thinkers and they think they should not pay for anything and people like you encourage this behaviour.
    Social Security is in the mess it is in today because when VC Bird took over from PLM he abolished income tax. Then when he didn’t have money to run the country, he took the people’s money from social security and didn’t pay in the public servants’ contributions.
    When Gaston Browne took over he abolished income tax and shifted the tax burden to the poor people who didn’t pay income tax before. Now with the high sales tax, the poor people can’t buy much. Gaston even went and took money out of Medical Benefits.
    You are right, the government needs money to run the country and governments get money either through taxation or borrowings.
    Right now this government has borrowed over 2 billion dollars and every day they go to parliament to borrow more. How are these borrowings going to be repaid? And how much of the country’s revenue is used to service these debts?
    Any government that takes over from this labour government is going to have a rude awakening as there will be no money in the Treasury.
    Antigua is bankrupt like Sri Lanka. The day may yet come when Antiguans will wake up and deal with the government like they did in Sri Lanka.

  9. @Paul… you should take your own advice and think critically. At least present accurate information in this forum. You are indeed correct about the 12.5% tax rate on personal income for individual making $0-$50,000. What you neglect to mention is that there is a $25,000 allowance for individuals. This means that effectively an individual making up to $25,000 pays $0 in PIT in Barbados. Do you understand that? Stop painting incomplete pictures.

  10. No critical thinkers are needed. There is only one critical thinker in Antigua and Barbuda. When the BIG DOG BARKS Cabinet/Parliament and every red cool aid listens.

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