Further tax breaks for struggling shops and restaurants have not been ruled out by Finance Minister Eugene Cox.

And he told a Chamber of Commerce meeting yesterday that he was prepared to listen to the concerns of the retail and restaurant trades -- and help out if he could.

Chamber of Commerce president Cris Valdes-Dapena said: "It's clear to me the Ministry heard the needs of the retail sector and made a good faith effort to address these needs to the degree it felt able to do so.

"And the retailers are coming back and saying the form of assistance which has been offered will not, by their assessment, benefit them in the way the Ministry thought it would.'' She was speaking after Mr. Cox faced the business world at a Budget breakfast meeting.

And he took some tough questioning -- with retailer William Boyle, of the Boyle's footwear chain, and Tom Gallagher, chairman of the restaurants and nightclubs division of the Chamber, leading the charge.

Mr. Boyle pointed out that -- although import duty had been equalised on synthetic and natural fibres -- shoes were not covered and his business faced the same pressures as other sectors of retail.

And Mr. Gallagher hammered home again that restaurants needed hotel-style concessions on tax on materials used for upgrading facilities -- not a Budget break for his members. Mr. Cox told Mr. Gallagher that visitors commonly complained that service and style had not kept pace with the cost of a trip to Bermuda.

And he added: "I certainly would take your point under advisement. What you're saying is that you're in the hospitality industry providing a restaurant service...I think we should look at that.'' Mr. Cox said afterwards: "I think it went reasonably well -- there were some queries, but I think we got them cleared up.'' Ms Valdes-Dapena said: "I don't think you can typify the exchanges as hostile. The Minister said he was open to hard facts.

"You might have heard frustration -- I don't think people heard hostility.'' Pre-Budget, retailers said they wanted a sharp cut in land tax -- and a difference made between retail and office space. The Budget gave a half-percent cut from six percent to all commercial premises.

The Budget also harmonised tax on clothing. The previous 2.5 percent on natural fibres and 22.5 percent on synthetics became a flat rate of ten percent.

But Ian Smith of the tourism-orientated retail sector of the Chamber said afterwards that a 400 percent increase in the duty on natural fibres would hit the smaller retailer specialising in high-quality natural fibres, in line with Bermuda's upmarket image.

Ms Valdes-Dapena added: "One of the thrusts in the Budget was an attempt to offer assistance to tourism in particular.

"And what we in the private sector are increasingly hopeful of is being able to have more effective, constructive input to measures from Government which are designed to stimulate tourist development are put together.

"I have reason to say we are increasingly hopeful of having a voice in that process.'' She added: "I can safely say that the overall reaction of the Chamber across the board to the Budget was favourable.

"The overbrush view from almost everybody I have talked to is that it is, on the whole, not bad.

"But there are certain things -- what I would call fine tuning -- which certain sectors would want to push for.

"The retailers in particular would have been happier with more consultation on how to structure the details of the concessions they were given. The quantum of the concessions were fine, but I think they would have been happier to have been consulted, the visitor retail section in particular.'' Ms Valdes-Dapena added: "The Ministry is able to work with historical data -- I think it appeared to them they were doing something which would benefit the retailers.

"The retailers seem to be saying that the benefits will not accrue in the same way as it was envisioned.

"But the Minister said `let us see your data' -- he appears to be open to continuing these discussions.'' And she said the impact of changes to payroll tax -- with employees paying an extra 0.25 percent, but with some breaks for employers -- had yet to be worked out.

Ms Valdes-Dapena added: "Some employers will see gains, others will see costs. I have not had all the input on this I expect to, but I haven't heard any negative feedback as far as the payroll tax goes.'' Eugene Cox: "There were some queries, but I think we got them cleared up.'' BUSINESS BUC