tax structure. A tax system which involves import duties may well have outlived its time. In the days when the United States used high tariffs on goods from the United Kingdom and Europe, Bermuda was competitive but these days US tariffs are minimal and, in many cases, the goods Bermuda tries to sell to visitors at full price plus duty are discounted in the United States.

Bermuda has continued right through to 1996 taxing the tourism industry and those companies serving that industry. Yet a whole new sector of the economy has been created to serve the international companies, lawyers, accountants, investment advisors and doctors and the new sector goes largely untaxed.

It is unfair that tourism bears the greater burden of taxes especially at a time when the hotels and the merchants serving visitors are fighting price resistance.

Eldon Trimingham of both Trimingham's and the Bank of Bermuda has said: "Right now, everybody in the tourism industry lives in this high-priced environment and the number one complaint tourists have is price.'' Mr. Trimingham has suggested a "fundamental review of Bermuda's existing tax structure to broaden the tax base and ease the tax burden on those sectors of the economy that continue to shoulder more than their fair share''.

There is another element. What little local manufacturing there is in Bermuda provides jobs for Bermudians. Employees in this sector are often on a much higher pay scale than similar workers in the United States and Canada. Yet Bermudian manufacturers pay taxes and duties on their staff and their materials which render them unable to compete with similar manufacturers overseas. There does not seem to be any understanding that if Bermudians go out of business, then there are no jobs.

We are not suggesting that Bermuda requires anything more than a level playing field. Bermuda can and will compete but too often these days Bermudian business is having its "hands tied'' by Bermudian taxes.

Because Bermudians do not pay income tax there is a myth that taxes are light in Bermuda. When you put all the taxes together that is not true. This is not to suggest income tax, although we believe that a Progressive Labour Party Government would move quickly to income tax. Government should know that what we are suggesting is not more taxes but a more even distribution of taxes. In fact, as we have said many times before, there is a need to cut Government fat.

When Dr. David Saul became Premier we hoped that a former Finance Minister would know how and where to cut Government spending. It was not to be. But that does not mean that it cannot be. The people are no longer in a mood for Government to tax and spend. The tourism industry needs a break if we are serious about revival.