Bermuda cannot have any kind of economic growth without somebody signing some big cheques first, Finance Minister Bob Richards said yesterday afternoon in defence of the 2015-16 Budget statement.

The Finance Minister, who noted that jobs creation would come second, was referring to the $930 million that he said would go into the Island’s economy over the next three years — from hotel investment to Government initiatives such as the airport terminal redevelopment and the hosting of the 2017 America’s Cup.

Mr Richards said Government was confident that, with new economic activity in the offing, “we can increase revenue without killing the economy”.

The eight projects (see table) will bring in “many millions of dollars — not dollars in suitcases; these are jobs”. Mr Richards added: “This is spending in Bermuda. That spending will multiply throughout the economy.”

Mr Richards also defended the tax increases that were poorly received by the Opposition. “We have raised taxes to raise revenue,” he said. “We believe that it will be successful because of the inward direct investment that is [imminent].”

The failure to drum up sufficient money from customs duties was “the biggest reason why we didn’t achieve deficit reduction”, Mr Richards added. “Quite frankly, I can’t explain that — we just can’t rely on customs duty the way that we used to. We had to give away customs duty in order to get those people to write the big cheques.”

The Government opted to enlist the Caribbean Regional Technical Assistance Centre (Cartac) to obtain “a dispassionate look at our tax system”, Mr Richards said.

“The people at Cartac have particular expertise in small island jurisdictions,” he said. “We don’t know what they will come up with, but we promise extensive public consultation.”

He said the Island’s narrow revenue base meant that new options had to be explored.

Asked if Government intended to apply extra pressure on obtaining the millions owed to it, Mr Richards conceded that previous efforts had “not borne fruit”.

He said: “We have a large accounts receivable.

“We are redoubling our efforts to get that money that is owed to the Government pot.”

Standing with members of Cabinet and the Senate, Mr Richards was joined by Premier Michael Dunkley, who said that the One Bermuda Alliance’s aim was twofold: economic recovery and “to right-size the Government, to get it back in line with what we can afford, to make it financially sustainable”.

Mr Dunkley echoed the Finance Minister’s description of the latest Budget as “the next step in a multiyear national recovery plan — a work in progress”.