For Barbados to maintain its developed lifestyle, it must have a certain level of taxation, insists Senator Liz Thompson.
The Deputy Speaker of the Senate said if Barbadians are against paying taxes, then it was time for frank conversations on what would be the resulting loss of government services.
“Let us make decisions about what we want as a populace. We’re about to go into the Estimates. There are a number of very important conversations that need to take place between the government and the governed, between the citizenry and the politicians. What is it that Barbados can afford?
“The reality is that the country has a developed country lifestyle, and we will have to have a level of taxation that is commensurate with supporting that lifestyle. And if we do not want to pay the taxes, if we want reductions on everything, if we want to add more and more goods and services supplied by governments, we have to ask ourselves, are we prepared to pay the cost?” she argued.
Speaking during the debate on the Value Added Tax (Amendment) Bill 2023, Thompson pointed out taxes were critical to covering the cost of each child within the island’s education system.
“I don’t think we know that when you have three children, it costs the taxpayers $75,000 a year to support your three children. That has nothing to do with children from other households with all of the enrollment at (UWI) Cave Hill or any other campus where you study as a Barbadian where your costs are met.
“And if you are doing a subject like medicine, then the cost gets closer to $40,000 or $50,000 per annum and how many doctors are we training every year?
“Do we want this lifestyle or don’t we and if we want this lifestyle, are we prepared to pay for it or not? And if we are prepared to pay for it, how much are we prepared to pay, and what specifically are we prepared to pay for? Everybody wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die,” she said. (JB)
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