No increase in taxes, funding for initiatives targeting seniors and housing, a template of small business concessions, and increased scope for public-private partnerships were all announced in the Budget yesterday as Government put the financial punch behind its Social Agenda.

Finance Minister Paula Cox?s second Budget Statement ? the first for which she is wholly responsible ? was generally well received yesterday.

Other highlights included a fast ferry for St. George?s and repairs to Lefroy House while continued development of the National Sports Centre, the new Hamilton Police Station and the new senior secondary school all received some fiscal attention in yesterday?s Budget Statement.

Young people shared in the limelight, with new scholarships and training programmes announced and initiatives targeting educational development from birth until maturity outlined.

Employment is back at pre-recession levels, revenues are higher than expected, and the economic outlook for 2005 is favourable, Ms Cox proudly declared.

Revenue is estimated at $750 million for 2005/06, while revenues for 2004/05 were $738 million ? about $44 million higher than first estimated at the beginning of the year, largely due to the $28 million windfall resulting from underestimated payroll tax revenues.

The new tiered structure in payroll tax ? expected to load Government?s coffers with $250 million in 2005/06 ? increases the threshold and staggers rates for small and medium businesses, easing the tax burden.

Customs duty concessions for farmers will help the agricultural and horticultural industries continue to rebound from Hurricane Fabian, and eliminating the stamp duty and estate tax on the family homestead will ease burdens on the taxpayer.

After cigarettes increased by $5 a carton last year, smokers breathed easies with no increase on any sin taxes this year.

A 4.75 percent increase in contributions to social insurance was the only significant rise in taxes, as Ms Cox moved to sustain the 3.5 percent pension increase due in August on top of last year?s nine percent increase.

Planned current account expenditure stands at $711 million for 2005/06, a $51 million increase over the original estimate for 2004/05.

The scale of that increase, Ms Cox said, reflects the additional resources that Government has deployed to realise the objectives of the Social Agenda.

Premier Alex Scott has highlighted 66 ?key programmes and initiatives? to be monitored on a monthly basis ? or even more frequently ? to hold Ministers accountable to the Social Agenda, she said.

Borrowing is estimated at $85 million for 2005/06, the same estimate as last year, when Government in fact ended up borrowing $15 million.

Capital projects are set at $137 million, with $125 million of that total set aside for the continuation or completion of projects that are already underway. Those include the second senior secondary school, the new Hamilton Police Station and Magistrates? Court, the Southside Police Station and the St. George?s Residential Care Facility for seniors.

Plans to construct 160 housing units are in the works, and the Bank of Bermuda-HSBC Group has pledged a gift of $1 million to be placed in the General Reserve Fund for the emergency housing initiative.

Ms Cox said the BHC planned to borrow the required financing in local capital markets rather than by using Government funds.

?Corporate governance and transparency has been significantly improved at the BHC, and therefore the housing agency is well positioned to seek financing from local capital markets for its housing initiatives,? she said.

While the Budget was shaped at home by the Social Agenda, the Island faced threats to its prosperity from abroad.

If oil prices continued to rise and the US dollar continued to weaken, local inflation could pass four percent in the coming year, she said.

Overly burdensome regulation undermining the Island?s competitiveness must be balanced against the potential future need for greater regulation to protect the $50 billion in investment in the financial services sector, she added.

Government is also doing due diligence on ?unethical business behaviour?, she said, citing New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer?s investigation into certain aspects of New York?s insurance sector.

Ms Cox also threw her weight behind the Independence debate.

Stakeholders have welcomed that dialogue, she said.

?They have also expressed an interest in having a timetable of action so that this can promote an end to any uncertainty.?

So far, Premier Alex Scott said yesterday, that timetable is dependent on the fact-finding efforts of the Bermuda Independence Commission (BIC). The BIC has given itself six months to gather all the information necessary to make an informed decision on Independence, and any further decisions will be held off until the BIC report is completed.

Funding has been set aside to explore the question of Independence, Ms Cox said yesterday ? however she did not declare how much.

?We are living in changing times,? she concluded. ?We cannot afford to keep doing things the way they have always been done just because it is familiar and comfortable.

?We intend to be an entrepreneurial government ? one that constantly chafes at the bit and searches for more efficient and effective ways of managing.

?That is true empowerment ? the notion that people working together can solve their own problems.?