One Bermuda Alliance proposals would cost the taxpayer $500 million more, charged the Progressive Labour Party yesterday.But the OBA shot back with a statement of their own describing the estimate as “ridiculous” and defending its proposals as key to getting the economy back on track.At a press conference called to criticise the media and deride the Opposition party’s partial platform released on Tuesday, the ruling party charged the OBA with pushing a “fairy tale” in a bid to win power saying spending more, while cutting taxes cannot possibly mean that they will also cut the debt.“A few weeks ago, Craig Cannonier said that austerity is not such a bad idea,” said Senator David Burt.“Now, three weeks later, he and his party are promoting $500 million in new spending and debt.”Economy Minister Patrice Minors was flanked by candidates Senator Burt and Stephen Todd at the Alaska Hall event.After criticising the media and praising her own job training programmes, Ms Minors questioned whether the OBA planned to cut her programmes should they win the Government.The OBA had only one mention of a job training programme in their brochure, she said.“The truth is there are no easy solutions. The truth is there is no magic elixir.”Stephen Todd took aim at the OBA’s partial platform saying it “lacks substance as a realistic and viable solution to the current challenging issues which impact our country” and that many of the proposals were already being implemented.As an example, he said that the PLP already had policies to address employer abuse of immigration rules.“The OBA has indicated that programmes such as FutureCare and subsidised DayCare may be in jeopardy when those programmes provide substantial benefits to those who receive them,” Mr Todd said.“Additionally the OBA provides no clear indication of how they propose to generate increased revenue on the one hand, while they propose to suspend existing revenue channels which support programs that are generating revenue.“The OBA also proposes to reduce debt and strengthen social programmes, however they have not indicated how they specifically propose to do this other than to imply that they will be growing Government revenues, the source of which is unexplained.“They have failed to explain that these will require additional funding which will increase taxpayer expense and add to the national debt.”–Senator Burt added: “On the one hand, they tell us that they are going to massively expand government spending by creating new bureaucracies and commissions, and by ‘extending’ some programmes and ‘expanding’ others.“Their plans to again radically change education and spend money on a multitude of initiatives would also cost untold hundreds of millions of dollars.“On the other hand they offer poorly thought out tax concessions that would further reduce government revenues which means more borrowing for Bermuda.“Bermudians, the OBA’s fairy tale plan just doesn’t add up! Unless they cut spending somewhere else in the Budget, but once again the OBA is silent about cuts.”The OBA defended its proposals as measures which will “restart the economy, grow good-paying jobs, restore safety to our neighbourhoods and provide our children with great schools.”A spokesperson said: “The PLP attack puts forward numbers that can only be described as ridiculous, and its sensitivity to how much things cost is laughable given the state of Government finances today.”And he reminded this newspaper that debt had increased by 700 percent since 2005, Government’s “own austerity programme has resulted in significant job layoffs and severe cutbacks to community support programmes” and that the number of Bermudians unemployed was more than 3,300.He said: “The OBA is putting forward sensible ideas such as payroll tax breaks to employers for all new Bermudians hires and directing more government spending to small businesses.“These and other measure are designed to protect and grow Bermudian jobs. It amazes us that a so-called labour Government would speak against them.”But the spokesman added that the OBA’s plans will take some time to bear fruit “in part because of the terrible financial hole the Government has put the Island in.“But we believe a change in government followed by the implementation of steady, responsible pro-growth policies, transparency and a more welcoming attitude toward investors will restore confidence and trust in the Island, jobs for Bermudians and hope for the future.”Government’s primary agenda, he said, “is to tear down whatever we say on the issues.“By doing that, they hope to deflect people’s attention from their record and from the fact that they have no plan to get Bermuda working again — no plan that says to the unemployed, to struggling businesses and hard-pressed families that better days are ahead.”At yesterday’s press conference, Sen Burt was asked to justify his estimate of the costs of the OBA’s plans. He said they had been costed using current budget numbers and estimates and said that he had calculated that the OBA plans would cost about $498.5 million in new money (see inset).Neither Sen Burt nor Mrs Minors would say whether they thought payroll tax exemptions for new Bermudian hires was a good idea in principle, when asked.“I’m not going to speak about whether it’s a good idea in principle. What I am going to say is if you’re going to put it forward you’re going to have to figure out how to pay for it,” said Sen Burt.But Sen Burt noted that Government had eliminated or rolled back payroll tax in a number of areas — for people in training and accounting programmes, and the retail, restaurants and hotel industries.Mrs Minors said Government’s revised work permits policy will address new Bermudian hires “in a small way”.“If we see that a company is committed to the employment of Bermudians there are concessions that may be made available to them.”Sen Burt insisted that Government will stick to a commitment to maintain spending at current levels.“In turn that has affected our level of borrowing, but what we said is that we are going to maintain our spending at current levels for the next three years,” he said.“What the One Bermuda Alliance is saying is that they are going to expand spending over five years by an estimated $500 million, they’re going to give additional tax cuts and they are going to reduce the debt.“The fact is they cannot do all three. So they need to tell the people what they are going to do. Because if they say they are going to reduce the debt then that means they are going to have to cut spending.”Asked how spending can be maintained if revenue is expected to be reduced, Sen Burt said that Government estimates and projections did not suggest that revenues would continue to decline.“I do not believe that Government will be in that position to have to reduce spending based on declining revenues.”Mrs Minors declined to comment on whether Government would commit to not raising the mandatory debt ceiling. “That’s a question that is best answered by the Minister of Finance.”