No tax cuts forecast in Archer’s last SPS
Finance Minister Marco Archer in the Legislative Assembly
(CNS): Finance Minister Marco Archer made no provision for any tax or fee reductions over the last 18 months of the PPM administration when he delivered the technical aspect of the government’s Strategic Policy Statement (SPS) Wednesday. Although the government had said it intended to roll back some of the fees imposed during the UDP administration, with the exception of the CUC fuel duty cut there was no sign of any reductions in the fees imposed on either the business community or the man in the street when Archer delivered the forecast statement in the Legislative Assembly.
While government is predicting that it will collect almost $900 million in the last 18 months of its term, Archer did not appear to be in a position yet to ease the tax burden. However, he revealed that there would be some much-needed increases in public spending in a number of areas, from support for the vulnerable to public sector reform.
The SPS is designed to forecast government revenues and spending over the next three years, but with an election in 2017, Archer can only be certain to have control on the public purse for the 18 months from the end of June 2016 to December 2017, since whatever new government emerges after the elections that year will take over the budget responsibility.
For this 18 month transition period, in which the public sector financial year will be moved to coincide with the calendar year, government estimates that it will collect $896.4 million and spend $851.5 million, equal to a 2.4% increase in public spending on this financial year, Archer revealed.
He said that the bulk of the increase, an additional $14.4 million, will be spent on critical public sector initiatives, including enhancements to education services, improvements at CIMA and to prepare for the upcoming IMF and FATF assessments in 2017, the May 2017 General Election, public sector reform, a new ombudsman’s office, pay increases for teachers, uniform services and other civil servants, the Needs Assessment Unit and the prison’s new conditional release programme.
“The increases in expenditure are targeted at those areas in which we have identified the greatest need and where we hope to have the greatest impact,” Archer stated.
The minister claimed that government would meet its obligations under the Public Management and Finance Law and was well on track to achieve compliance by the 30 June 2016 deadline. He said this was a major achievement that had not come easily and was the result of a focused policy on fiscal prudence.
“This meant that we were not able to do everything that we would have liked to do in the time we may have wanted to do so but it means that we have achieved financial stability, something which, if managed properly, will eventually allow for everything necessary to be done and pay enormous dividends for future generations of Caymanians,” he said.
Government expects to have an operating surplus in the 18 month period of 2016/17 of $44.9 million, considerably less than the surpluses it has claimed over the last few years that have led to its compliance with the law.
In his last SPS for this current government Archer said that the forecasts indicated that the economy and government’s finances were on solid footing.
“Economically speaking, the country is forecast to experience stable economic growth, with contained inflation and decreasing unemployment,” Archer told his legislative colleagues.
“The government’s finances are firmly on a sustainable track, with stable operating surpluses, increasing cash balances and reducing debt balances in order to maintain compliance with the Principles of Responsible Financial Management as set out in the PMFL,” he added.
Address by the Minister of Finance – Strategic Policy Statement November 2015
Category: Government Finance, Politics
PPM – what are you going to do about the high cost of living? We got a reduction in our electrical bills the first part of the year – but it wasn’t very long before our bills were sky high again. When are you going to think of the poor people who are struggling to make ends meet? This is what government has to consentrate on – not roads! But government will never know the hardships of some people with their BIG paychecks every month.
I cannot wait for 2017……its killing me that the PPM still have more than one year in govt
Dont worry marko. the civil service will absorb any fallout as always.
Happy thanksgiving is every day for some.
the 14.4 million earmarked for civil servant payraise is the amount Dart is paying for Dragon Bay. How is this any different from what Mac did? UDP AND PPM please go to hell. I will speak with my family’s 4 votes next election….
“Trying to pick a politician is like trying to decide which STD would be better for me..” Booth the UDP and the PPM make this sound too real.
And you can surely leave out the C4C people. What a joke they turned out to be. Totally useless!
Give me chlamidiya over this lot any day
Or even a dictionary. You could do with one for the harder words. But then full stops seem beyond you too.
just imagine if there was no dart investment………?
Imagine if there were no concessions to the ultra rich that the common struggling man had to take the burden of….
Imagine if sentences did not end in prepositions.
DARTs got a shitload of project’s coming up so we’re good.
It is like looking back to when We controlled our own country.’s future. Our elected officials has abdicated that role now!
They’re saving it up for election year sweeteners. If you really want a tax reduction all you need to do is know the right people then you can get a duty waiver or a “grant”.
PPM you are the worst ¨thing¨ to have happened to these islands. I would even put you all before Hurricane Ivan. Enjoy your last few months of ruining the islands.
2 things that hold cayman back from real economic growth…
1. cost of living(indirect taxation)
2. cost of government (civil service)
2 things that ppm will not tackle…
1. cost of living(indirect taxation)
2. cost of government (civil service)
All those can be directed at our Government no matter who was running the show for the past 2 Administrations. Government needs to run this place as One;not by their district or their own personal beliefs. They create divide that trickles all the way down.
typical spineless rubbish from the do nothing ppm…..
i am no advocate of udp but all the ppm has done is maintain the mac-o-nomics of the last outgoing administration…..
not surprising really as i predicted this when they got elected……
Oh well, if you predicted it then it then you must be brilliant.
not brillant….just common sense and a first world education……
ICCI? Can you predict the powerball too?
9.58, you must be a genius to have predicted that. Permission to grovel before you in awe of your awesomeness. Maybe you should stand for election next time as a non PPM non UDP do something go getter. So tell me, what would you do if you were elected?
grovel away…
sad thing is that me and my ilk can’t even vote never mind be elected…..
Instead they increased fees on the working man while continuing to give the ultra rich concessions
We’ve all heard the remarks that this is an elitist govt so what did you expect? Meanwhile all the accounting firms and law firms have made millions from this govt. They sure know how to spend money but not a clue on how to make it!
8:46, if the rich weren’t here, do you think you would be making that money?
doesn’t matter the average man still can’t afford the cost of living->
How does anyone expect these clowns to give any tax cuts when they embark on so much capital projects as is the norm with ppm. All they re doing is trying to secure another term but not again bobo
People said they would never vote for them again after their first disastrous term and people got fooled into doing it again. Hope we have all learned our lesson.
More fantasy from Marco and his magical wand. What happened to all the surpluses over 120 million they bragged about did it just disappear?
That “surplus” is already committed to repay over $300Million of debt which will become due and payable soon….”Surplus” here means a net positive cash flow on the income statement, but the $300Million liability is still on the balance sheet.
Do they really think people can’t do the math? PPM must think all of us are stupid
I am sure they dont but I bet you have doubts about yourself!
The majority of you are, you chose them to lead you.
Won’t the new pier cost 300mil?