It is a truism that Replies to the Budget are not easy to deliver, and Shadow Finance Minister Pat Gordon Pamplin had her work cut out last week.

That’s because the economy is in good shape, tourism appears to be recovering after years of decline, and the Government’s election budget contained very few “gimmes” for an Opposition.

In general, taxes were not increased, and few people can argue with spending on worthy causes like the elderly.

Still, Mrs. Gordon Pamplin did her best, and her best wasn’t bad, at least in terms of describing how her party would be spending and raising money if it was in Government.

She rightly picked up on the Government’s failure to take advantage of this period of prosperity by paying down the Island’s debt, which while not high, is a drag on Government spending options.

She also rightly criticised the astronomical growth of the public service, noting, as this newspaper has, that this has meant that far from raising taxes, Government should have been in a position to reduce taxes.

The United Bermuda Party would like to see payroll tax reduced, and it is true that this is a drag on small to mid-size businesses of all stripes.

This newspaper would like to see a reduction in Customs duty, because it makes the local retail sector uncompetitive, but payroll tax drives up costs for all businesses, so any cuts would be welcome.

Mrs. Gordon Pamplin also showed some political savvy in criticising the Government’s record over the past eight years.

The PLP would like to convince people that it has begun a new era under Premier Ewart Brown, and Finance Minister Paula Cox unashamedly declared on Friday at the conclusion of the debate that “this is just the beginning” as if the previous seven years of Government were just practice.

But there is only so much to be gained from this approach. Politics is largely about optimism, and a leader and new(ish) administration invariably gets a honeymoon and a chance to show what it can do, so it is risky to harp too much on the past failures of the PLP government.

As time goes on, any administration will gain baggage, and Dr. Brown may well have added some as he continued to try to justify the closure of the Medical Clinic, saying that when one of his predecessor’s administrations changed its name to the Medical Clinic, this was nothing more than adding cologne to manure.

Dr. Brown then went on to say that the clinic simply was not cost effective because it cost $500,000 a year to run, but only saw 50 patients a week. That no doubt is accurate, although it is hard to know if that means the service is cost effective or not.

An insurance company would collect more than $250,000 per year in major medical premiums to cover 50 people, and very few of them would attend their doctor each week.

Dr. Brown added that the convenience of a one-stop shop for the uninsured was not what “health” was about and said everyone who could afford it should pay something for health care, even if it was $1, because free care created a welfare dependency.

So the conservative United Bermuda Party supports free health care and wants to cut payroll tax for those earning less than $50,000 per year and the liberal “Progressive” Labour Party rails against welfare dependency and wants to charge the indigent for health care. Obviously political labels don’t mean much any more. Stay tuned, the Budget debate may produce a few more surprises.