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$800 pension increase unacceptable – Opposition MP
…calls for elderly to be exempt from taxes
Opposition Member of Parliament, Africo Selman, during her presentation yesterday on budget 2017 said that the $800 increase to old age pension which government promises for the New Year is unacceptable.
PPP/C Parliamentarian, Africo Selman
In Minister of Finance Winston Jordan’s 2017 budget speech which he delivered two Mondays ago, he announced that the old age pension will be increased from $18,200 to $19,000.
Yesterday, Selman described the budget as presented by Jordan to be a slap in the faces of the nation’s elderly. She said that the senior citizens deserve much more than $800 which she said would not be able to buy a proper meal.
According to Selman, it is inhumane and unkind of the A Partnership for National Unity and Alliance for Change government to effectively increase pension when the recipients have not been exempted in any way from paying Value Added Tax.
She said, “The timely reduction in value added tax being thrown at the Guyanese people can in no way benefit pensioners. I call on the APNU and AFC coalition to exempt senior citizens from paying all taxes including the value added tax.”
Selman said that it is unconscionable that out of a grouping of $250B scheduled for spending over the next fiscal year, persons who would have toiled for this country are worth more than the $800 increase they are receiving.
In her argument, Selman said that given inflation and the rising cost of living for 2016, the elderly have gained nothing, she said, “In fact, they are definitely going to suffer ; and increasingly so, as with each passing month, cost of living continues to increase.”
She went on to say that the budget is a clear indication that the Granger administration has become numb to the needs of people and unresponsive to public outcry.
She questioned how Jordan could have presented his budget to the nation under the theme “Delivering the Good Life to All Guyanese” when measures will be instituted to remove subsidies from their utility bills and saddled with the imposition of the 14 per cent VAT on their water and electricity bills.
Further, the parliamentarian said that she finds it difficult to comprehend how such measures can contribute to the good life. She said that the 2017 budget will only add undue burdens to Guyanese. She called on the Finance Minister to review the budget and to remove the draconian measures to be implemented.
During the presentation by APNU-AFC Parliamentarian Jennifer Wade, she said that although the pension will be increased by $800, it must be noted, that since her government has been in office, it has increased the pension from $13,000 to $19,000 and therefore considers the $6,000 increase in less than two years. This is a monumental achievement for the nation.
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