Mr. Prime Minister: Where is my Income Tax Refund?

DLP says Barbados economy is in fine shape, just needs some paint

A few days into July last month the DLP held a Media Conference at Illaro Court where it told the country that the economy was “stable.”  Within days of that being said, a former Central Bank Governor made comments that left the entire country puzzled as to which economy was the DLP really referring to, a few days earlier.

Exactly one week after that DLP Media Conference, International Rating Agency Moody’s issued a release on Barbados, that was scary and while it supported the position taken by the former Central Bank Governor, it exposed the DLP’s false hope on the economy.

Then the present Central Bank Governor held his Review of the economy for the first six months of 2010 and said that the outlook for the rest of the year and into 2011 – is “uncertain.”  Up stepped Senator Darcy Boyce on July 29th and at a Media Conference on the same Barbados economy – suggested that (in the absence of new policies and although the DLP made it clear that it was doing nothing but prefers to “wait and see”) “the decline is some how reversing or that the Barbados economy is on the rebound.”  Really?!

How could the economy be on the rebound when there is still a serious fiscal current account deficit?  On the rebound – and the productive sectors are still not firing?

And what about the fact that the DLP has manufactured a serious fiscal current account crisis in this country with no stabilization plan or policy in sight?  What about the recent DLP suggestion that Barbadians should not expect: A Statement of Economic and Financial Policies (what Barbadians commonly refer to as the budget) anytime soon?  In his recent Report, the Governor of the Central Bank shows that for the first 5 months of this year, the Government spent $182.3 million more than it earned in revenue.

This is disturbing because that is $62 million more than the deficit for the entire year of 2008 when things were real bad.  The Central Bank Governor’s outlook for the rest of the year is “uncertain” but Darcy Boyce says that “the economy on the rebound.”  So the Central Bank is saying one thing and the Minister of State in the Ministry of Finance is telling a different story.  This is precisely why it is extremely critical for Mr. Stuart to speak in order to bring clarity to this confusion and contradiction.

Thousands of Barbadians haven’t received their 2009 Income Tax refund

What I do know is what I just told you and the fact that thousands of Barbadians still have not even received their Income Tax refund for 2009. I am therefore taking what Senator Boyce and the DLP say with a pinch of salt. It was not long ago that this country was  told by its Minister of Finance that Barbados does not have a cash flow problem – but the public record does not support that wild allegation.

This is scary stuff!  Listen to the attached audio extract of what can be described as: Senator  Boyce’s false hope: that by doing nothing the country can get where it needs to go and that having done nothing – the economy is on the rebound and the decline is reversing. http://www.sendbigfiles.com/2c9c2092a4771ef08f521163e598df3b

The above article was submitted by an anonymous BFP reader. It was published as submitted with the exception of the bold titles and photo added by BFP.