Budget since the party took power in November, 1998.

Finance Minister Eugene Cox's February, 1999 Statement was a hybrid effort because the new Government had only four months to work on the Budget and much of the groundwork had been laid before the PLP entered office. Many spending plans were also, by necessity, continuations of programmes that the former Government already had in place.

Still, Mr. Cox was able to take a certain amount of credit for last year's Budget, which saw few taxes increased and spending kept within relatively sound limits.

Thus, Government was able to avoid accusations that was it was a "tax and spend'' liberal government and more importantly, it showed that the PLP could handle money.

Subsequently, Government announced a $7 million increase in land tax, with the bulk of the tax hike falling on the owners of larger homes and on businesses.

This took some of the shine off Government's reputation and has added to the costs of businesses and hotels in particular. There has been debate over whether the Government had any choice in making the increases, which came after the former Government missed a statutory revaluation five years earlier.

Nonetheless, many businesses could ill afford any addition to their overheads while many pensioners lost their discounts -- a costly political move on Government's part.

Still, today's Budget is the first real test of Government's financial ability. Mr. Cox has a delicate balancing act to perform.

Recent polls suggest that Government's popularity has fallen and it is likely that this is due to the "push-pull'' nature of politics.

Government is being pushed by its grassroots supporters to spend more on social programmes while at the same time it must retain the confidence of an always nervous business community and keep the economy growing.

The latter problem may be the toughest for Mr. Cox. Tourism remains stagnant -- despite an unprecedented economic boom in the US -- the insurance sector is steady but hardly booming in the middle of a "soft market'' for insurance rates and e-commerce has yet to meet the hopes of its backers as a major new support for the economy.

In this kind of economy, it will be difficult to increase taxes without howls of protest -- the retail/tourism sector can ill afford any further costs and would benefit from Customs duty cuts while any tax increases in the international sector run the risk of killing the goose that lays the golden egg.

So Mr. Cox is being pulled by business not to hurt the economy through tax increases or reckless spending.

At the same time, Government is being pushed by the spending promises it made before and since the General Election to its grass roots. The demands for more money for housing, social services, education, the Police and so on have to be paid for -- the question is how?. Indeed the Sun poll suggested that the poor are the most disillusioned with Government, perhaps because high expectations raised before the Election have not been met.

Mr. Cox may be tempted to borrow more money. Bermuda remains within the policy guideline for borrowing of ten percent of gross domestic product, but is bumping against the statutory limit of $180 million. At the same time, borrowing carries its own risks.

Increased borrowing means more tax money must go straight to the lender and at some time, the lender must be repaid.

Mr. Cox has an unenviable task today. And how well he can balance the conflicting demands of the community will be a major test for Government.