Dear Editor,

For all the people who believe that simply raising revenue will be the answer to our financial woes it is obvious that not one of you has ever read the audited financials of BDA’s consolidated fund. Here is a quick synopsis between the years 2004 to 2013.

Between 2004 and 2013 the PLP increased Government revenue from $706m to $867m which is a 23 per cent increase. Over the same time period the PLP increased Government expenditure from $721m to $1.275b, which is a 77 per cent rise.

So in the space of ten years the PLP successfully tripled our expenditures when compared to revenue increases, which in turn increased our national budget deficit from $15m to $408m, which is a 2,620 per cent jump. But, of course, the PLP doesn’t have any role in our current financial quagmire. Of course they don’t. So the OBA came into power with an inherited $408m deficit, which cannot be resolved overnight as the actions required would simply have brought the economy to a complete halt. Hence the “glide path” put forward by the SAGE Commission and adopted by the OBA.

In order for our massive deficit to be closed as of now, it would require the OBA to raise an additional 47 per cent of revenues on top of the $867m recorded as at March 31, 2013. Do you revenue raising/anti-cut advocates think that the OBA, or any Party, can magically raise this out of thin air in the middle of a recession?

Let me put it in perspective for you. Between 1999 (the PLP’s first budget) revenues were $546m while at their last budget (2013), as noted, the revenue was $867m.

So over their 14-year period of governance the PLP were only able to raise revenues by $321m or 59 per cent or $23m per year. But somehow some people think the OBA can magically increase revenues by approximately 50 per cent after two years of being in power?

It is wishful thinking that our budget can be balanced solely via an increase in revenue. Revenue will only increase with economic activity, which will only be achieved via incentives provided to job creators. This is a whole other topic that the revenue raisers seek to obstruct with their calls for no tax concessions and placing even higher financial burdens on the private sector, which has shed 5,000 jobs. These are cold hard facts devoid of emotion (but they do make me cry when reading them) and there can be no argument to the contrary — unless you are a partisan or Union hack.

Just the Facts