Given the economic times we as Bermuda's people find ourselves in, most people were anxiously awaiting the release of this year's Budget, hoping it would help to speed economic recovery for us all in 2010. As has been exemplified by the many numerous responses received from different sectors of our community, these hopes have been dashed.

At a time when the Government has been encouraging all Bermudians to tighten their belts, the 2010 Budget unfortunately demonstrates to us that while the Government is willing to talk the talk, it is not willing to walk the walk. While we needed a budget which would be stimulus in nature to help breathe new life into our economy, the policies and plans laid out for us do the exact opposite. This Budget does not encourage hiring, it does not encourage productivity and growth and it does not encourage development in the International Business sector.

We, the Bermuda Democratic Alliance, have spent much time analysing and considering carefully what was presented to us by Finance Minister Paula Cox last week. Unfortunately, this Budget seems to us to have three key areas of concern. The Alliance believes this Budget sells out our future, picks the pockets of the people of Bermuda and does not take the prudent steps it should.

Selling out our future

The most obvious way that this Budget is selling out our future is that it permits Bermudians to dip into pensions before retirement age. Minister Cox has said that this will only be permitted in times of financial hardship and will be carefully controlled. Clearly, although this is being touted as helping the people of Bermuda, it really is a short-sighted answer which will only provide those same people in hardship now with greater hardship in their later years. We are certainly not the only group which has expressed concern about this policy. The executive director of Age Concern, Claudette Fleming, also believes that dipping into pensions early is not the best thing for Bermudians. She said: "Bermudians need to save, not dip into their private pensions because of immediate financial concerns." She went on to say: "By 2020 almost one quarter of Bermuda's citizens will be over the age of 65 years. The Government of the day will have to think prudently about how to allocate resources to this population as it increases…" We believe that taking such a step as to allow dipping into private pensions is selling out our future.

Where is the prudence?

In these economic times, we should all be decreasing expenses. However, the Government, which has been encouraging the people of Bermuda to be prudent, is not following its own advice. Spending in this Budget has increased overall and our capacity to borrow and thereby increase our already large debt has increased as well. Perhaps the most alarming consideration in this regard is that not only is the Government not now, in the midst of an economic crisis, reining in its spending, even more importantly, the Government did not heed the warning signs and cut spending several years ago which could have minimised the damage we are enduring now.

For anyone familiar with the economic situation in Greece at present, certain parallels can be drawn. Greece, one of the member states of the European Union, is experiencing severe economic pressure due to its high debt and creditors demanding repayment which the country cannot afford to make. The EU is carefully considering possible bailout steps, but Germany, an economic powerhouse of the EU, has made it quite clear that Greece needs to take responsibility for where it finds itself presently. Bermuda is no different. The Government must take responsibility for the economic position we are in and more importantly, must take action to remedy it while protecting its people. This Budget does not do that. We ask again, where is the prudence?

Picking the pockets of the people

While this Budget has been touted as taking steps to "put money directly into the pockets of families in need", it actually does the opposite. The increase in Payroll Tax payable from 14 percent to 16 percent demonstrates this. Finance Minister Paula Cox has said that payroll tax increase only boils down to $1 per every $100 of each individual's salary in an effort to address concerns which have been raised by the public from everyone from the BPSU to members of the International Business Community. Using Minister Cox's mathematical analogy and taking it to the next step, it is easy to see that an individual earning $50,000 per year will then be paying $500 more to the Government each year by this increase in the Payroll Tax.

Think of all of the things that individual could use that sum of money for: that could pay for a month's groceries for a family or a household's electricity bills. For the Minister to, in this economic climate, make light of that sum of money and what it could mean to the Bermudian family just goes to show how very out of touch this Government is with the people.

Today we shall be presenting our full reply in the House and ask you to listen.