There’s a hole in the budget

There’s a hole in the budget, dear Bruce, dear Bruce
Then fix it dear Audley, dear Audley, dear Audley
With what should I fix it, dear Bruce, dear Bruce?
With taxes dear Audley, with taxes of course!

The Golding Administration has no intention to borrow to finance the 55-billion dollar shortfall in their 548-billon dollar 2009/10 budget. You don’t have to be an economist to know that this can only be achieved by increasing revenue/taxes. Adjusting General Consumption Tax and imposing a cess/tax on gasoline are most likely to head the list. Ironically this month marks the 10-year anniversary of the April gas riots in Jamaica, in 1999. Jamaicans took to the streets to protest the imposition of a gas tax by the then government, shutting down the country for four days. A reintroduction of a gas tax coupled with the hardships being experienced as a result of the current economic crisis would surely ignite wide-scale public protest. We won’t know for sure until tomorrow when the Finance Minister, Audley Shaw opens the 2009/10 budget debate. Maybe I should full my tank on the way home. Stay tuned to your radios folks.