By Sue-Ann Wayow
A BUDGET for friends and financiers is what the 2022 National Budget is being described as by activist Phillip Alexander.
In a statement on Tuesday, Alexander who heads the group Citizens Union of Trinidad and Tobago (CUTT) said the Budget read by Finance Minister Colm Imbert was not designed for the average citizen.
He said, “Revenue Authority to pick the pockets of the small man, but no funding to go after the corrupt and the money launderers.
“No allocation to secure the borders to end the narcotics trade. No allocation to reward law enforcement removing illegal guns from the streets.
“Nothing for flooding or water distribution, nothing to level the disconnect between prestige and also ran schools that turns the children of the poor into minimum wage grist for the slave labour mill.”
Speaking about businesses that may benefit from tax incentives, Alexander said there was no mention of local created snacks such as kurma, toolum, tamarind balls and sugar cake.
He said, “An insult to agriculture but we parboiling rice. An insult to small businesses that must comply with a looted NIB (National Insurance Board), but nothing about support systems and credit. Nothing to end the rape and pillaging in the banks that loots accounts with outrageous fees while giving no share of the interest generated in the multi-billion dollar private credit market they fund.”
Alexander also complained that roads were in dire need of repair but government was focusing on infrastructure in upscale areas.
And while over $6 billion were allocated for education and health, many public sector workers continue to labour on 2013 salaries, but there was no accountability for previous monies spent, he said.
Nothing on forex