‘Minister of Finance has achieved coherence in his work’ – Minister Felix

DPI, Georgetown, Guyana, Wednesday, December 6, 2017

Minister of Citizenship Winston Felix said that criticism of repetition, in the 2018 Budget, by Opposition Member of Parliament (MP) Joe Hamilton demonstrates a lack of understanding of the need for continuity planning.

“No sensible financial plan in preparing for the future of a nation could ignore what happened in the past. In constructing his four budgets, the Honourable Minister Jordan achieved continuity, consistency, and coherence of his work,” Minister Felix stated.

In addition, Minister Felix said that labelling as “fluff and bluff” the measures proposed in the Budget, to foster the entry of Hybrid vehicles and their charging stations into the country, by Hamilton is equally astonishing and reminds of “those thoughtless persons who wait until rain is in its torrents before building the shelter.”

“The APNU + AFC government is in anticipatory mode of its future tasks and embedding forward planning in the minds of our citizens that their interests are considered, and prospective investors are given an idea of the government’s thinking,” Minister Felix added.

Turning his attention to the critics who said the 2018 budget offers little to the Guyanese populace, Minister Felix pointed to several proposed measures which are intended to bring relief and encourage growth to stakeholders.

Among the measures identified are the granting of tax exemption on hybrid vehicles designed to accommodate LPG gas with engine capacity not exceeding 2000 cc, exemption from tax of machinery and equipment to set up refilling stations for hybrid vehicles,  a minimum personal allowance of $720, 000 regardless of the fraction of the year worked by an employee, tax free vacation allowance for private sector employees and amnesty for delinquent taxpayers who file a true and correct declaration effective January 1 to September 30, 2018.

The $257.1B  Budget for 2018 was presented to the National Assembly on Monday, November 27.

 

By: Kidackie Amsterdam

 

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