UPM increasing range of fees in 2024/25 budget
(CNS): Premier and Finance Minister Juliana O’Connor-Connolly said her government would increase some taxes or fees over the 2024-25 budget period, such as a rise in duty on electric cars, stamp duty in high-end locations, work permit applications and some General Registry fees. In the Budget Address delivered on Friday afternoon, she outlined an increase in fees over two years of CI$132 million, which she said were non-inflationary and would not impact “the little man”, but the revenue would play a vital role in funding public services. She also revealed new borrowing of $150 million for capital projects.
With around CI$128 million of unused but proposed borrowing carried over from this year, if the government does spend all of these proposed borrowings, it will add about $278 million to its existing debt over this next two-year budget cycle, leaving it with a debt balance at the end of 2025 of about CI$500 million. The premier said that this would deliver a surplus by core (or central) government of around CI$43 million in 2024 and CI$53.2 million in 2025.
Cayman’s biggest budget to date forecasts that core government will collect CI$1.09 billion in revenue in 2024 with expenditures of CI$1.05 billion. In 2025, it is predicting revenue of CI$1.3 billion, with spending expected to reach CI$1.08 billion.
While the government will be spending hundreds of millions on various capital projects, from parks to prisons, in her new role as finance minister, O’Connor-Connolly revealed that personnel costs for government will exceed half a billion dollars next year and a whopping CI$522 million in 2025, as it recruits more mental health staff, border control personnel and regulators for the offshore sector, as well as funding increases in teachers’ pay.
O’Connor-Connolly outlined some of the capital expenditure, but more details of how the government will be spending its record revenue and borrowing are expected to be explained during the course of the budget debate next week. She said that in addition to filling the holes in the debts of operating revenue for government-owned companies such as Cayman Airways and the turtle farm, two new high schools, roads, airport redevelopment, a new prison, the Scranton Park, land acquisition as well as money for affordable housing would be funded.
Despite the size of the budget and the new debt, the premier said that the government would still comply easily in both years with all of the requirements of the public management and finance law.
The government has not yet released the speech, presentation, address or any of the budget-related documents. However, the premier’s Policy Statement and Budget Address, as well as the governor’s Throne Speech, can be seen on CIGTV below (Part 1 and Part 2):
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Category: Government Finance, Politics
Barbados has Mia Motley as their PM. We ended up with Judas as our PM. She is an embarrassing mess. God help my beloved country Cayman!
11 @ 1:46pm – Franzie for JuJu!!
No mention of land protections, plastic bans, or meeting any of the UN Sustainability Goals by 2030. Going backwards in time, rather than forward.
God made land and plastics for us all to enjoy.
She will learn about the Laffer curve soon… sometimes when you raise taxes, tax revenue actually FALLS because the people paying the taxes just leave (to competing islands like BVI).
Perhaps one storm away, Cayman Finance will reshore, and those Caymanians that didn’t see it coming, and can’t leave, will have to bear the costs of last 30 years of freeloading regimes with no future resiliency plan. It’s really a shame.
Good ting Cayman Islands are tax free or it would be too expensive to live here.
this is how she try to save the planet? Increase duty on EV and encourage people to buy regular car to keep polluting…. well done Juju
for the love of God and this country we need this government gone and gone NOW!
How do we get new elections ASAP and get rid of these absolute fools. We jumped from the frying pan into the fire and now we’re cooked.
They were all given gas-guzzling CHEVY TAHOE vehicles, no wonder they raise duty on EVs
Its giving pay raise in disguise….
Would some one square how you can spend (supposedly) CI $50M on a high school in the Brac and CI $41M on a general aviation terminal? By the time all the supplemental appropriations are made of the course of the budget on government owned businesses aka. Cayman Air, Turtle Farm, Cinico, HSA there won ‘t be a surplus but a large financial deficit. Someone needs to step in a take the keys away from JuJu. The woman has gone rogue🤪🤪🤪
She’s not the only one, she’s in good company.
She hasn’t changed at all, same Juju, only now at the levers. This is exactly why PPM and UDP don’t receive a mandate from the voters.
Cayman needs a much bigger mens prison to hold all the deplorables now being granted unserved sentence early release, flight risk, and danger to the community bail. Northward has been overwhelmed by capacity limitations for decades. The RCIPS flyered our neighborhood last week with leaflets explaining that dangerous criminals are on the loose in our area because the judiciary is letting them out. You can’t make this stuff up.
Then build a warehouse for them to wait in until deported.
New prison costing $100Million will only provide comfortable accommodation and woke human rights nourishment beyond that available to many law abiding citizens…who will have to pay for it.
Make prison something to fear and crime will go down.
Any
Any…response Madam Governor..?
There are departing flights every day, there shouldn’t be any warehousing of permit violators or border breachers. Extradition should be part of sentencing, with all of those appeals running concurrent to sentence. By the time they are done, they should be at the airport outbound. Trouble is, the inmates at Northward are mostly several generations Caymanian, not new arrivals, or status grants. Contrary to popular belief. That’s why the prison needs to be just big enough to house existing recidivists of a population of 150,000, not 20,000.
Just like Singapore and UAE… crime free for a reason, and it ain’t cos prisoners don’t like comfortable beds and three meals a day.
“Make prison something to fear and crime will go down”
This is actually not true. Look up Norway judicial/incarceration system compared to America or Russia and you will see the exact opposite.
It really comes down to Punishment versus Rehabilitation. A nice prison without the focus of rehabilitation is no good, and any prison which main focus is punishment is much worst.
Norway has centuries of social and cultural development, and an education system to back it up.
A prisoner released in Norway goes into the care of an established social care system.
Our prisoners come from a baby daddy dumped kid culture who will go back to their rats nest of drugs and thieving.
This ain’t Europe, we’re talking Jamaica.
Tax dem Ms Premier they gots to pay to stay ! Stop this haemorrhaging of these beautiful islands a general clean up of the garbage and parasites is badly need Now! Go UPM !
Who exactly are the parasites?
free money making solutions:
allow sunday trading
bring in weed tourism(to protect the fine caymanian christian ‘heritage’, only tourists and expats are allowed purchase)
bring in casinos at top hotels (to protect the fine caymanian christian ‘heritage’. only tourists and expats are allowed)
treble all traffic fines
treble duty on cigarettes
implement any recommendation of miller-shaw or e&y reports.
sell loss making cayman airways
sell loss making turtle farm
sell goab
double stamp duty for non-resident property purchasers
How long do our political leaders think we can continue to raise fees, without creating new streams of revenue??!!
The same revenue streams have been bled since the 1960s!!!
Legalize lottery and decriminalize ganja for new revenues!!!!
The BVI and other competing jurisdictions are gleefully watching business leave Cayman cos it’s just too expensive here.
Well done JuJu.
[citation needed]
11 @ 1:46pm – Franzie for JuJu!!
In addition, introduce annual property tax for those persons who own property/properties but don’t live here. Millions of dollars are lost each month/year from not doing so and such persons laugh their asses off each month as they deposit thousands of dollars, from their rental properties, into their bank account.