history of presenting Budgets which protect Bermuda. Common sense and sanity have prevailed at the Ministry of Finance for many years, yet some of Dr.

Saul's Budgets have been severely criticised but in usage, they all have proved of great benefit to Bermuda. The proof of the pudding is in the eating.

There is no doubt that a long series of Budgets by various Finance Ministers has keep Bermuda's economy in a state which is the envy of many other countries. Without the balance of this careful financial planning and without Dr. Saul's early pre-recession Budgets, Bermuda would not have come through the recession as well as it did. Bermudians were hurt by the recession but they give far too little credit to Dr. Saul for warding off the major pain which could have occurred.

It is ironic that having helped Bermuda through the recession Dr. Saul, who could logically have looked forward to an easy time, is now faced with another major financial crisis in terms of the return of the bases and, specifically, the running of Bermuda International Airport.

It is not easy for any small country to suddenly absorb huge costs associated with an expense which could not have been planned for. Yet it is indicative of the strong condition of Bermuda's economy that Dr. Saul is able to budget for the Airport takeover without any major or dramatic new taxes.

By and large, those taxes which have been increased and those which are new affect those people most able to pay. The tax on professional registration is relatively small and could have been increased a great deal more for lawyers, doctors and accountants. It may be that once the tax structure is in place, Dr. Saul will be able to increase this tax to a more realistic level.

Since we are opposed to taxes right now which increase the cost of a Bermuda vacation, we were happy that the tax on alcohol was not increased but unhappy that the Airport departure tax was increased. It might have been possible to increase the Airport tax for locals and decrease it for visitors. The increase in cigarette taxes is far too low given the huge hospital costs associated with diseases caused by smoking.

The flat tax, now $1 million, on the two major banks begins to seem punitive and takes little account of the huge sums the banks donate to local charity, the jobs they provide for Bermudians and the large amount of their income which comes from outside Bermuda.

Combining the hospital levy with the payroll tax now amounts to a flat income tax which exempts those in the higher income brackets and should be recognised as such.

However, those who thought they were going to be in for a sharp financial shock in order to cover Airport expenses will be pleasantly surprised. Dr.

Saul appears to have solved the problem while minimising the pain.