Whatever basis used, this year’s budget is heavily tilted to favour the ‘big boys’

Feb 04, 2022 Letters

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Dear Editor,

Whatever is the understanding and definition of Government Minister and MP, the Hon. Deodat Indar, of ‘big boys’ it has no relation to reality (“2022 National Budget not for “big boys” -Minister Indar”, Demerara Waves, February 2, and “Govt unashamed budget supports private sector -Min. Indar” KN February 3rd).
I had staked out my position earlier that this same National Budget that he insists is not for the “big boys” is unhelpful to the poor and bottom feeding expectant (and dependent) mass of Guyanese. Since, according to the respective positions of the Minister and I, this very budget is not for “big boys” or favourable to the poor, then there must be some other segment of Guyanese who are the beneficiaries of the lavish generosities in this year’s mammoth budget. At this time, both the segment and beneficiaries remain a mystery. Regardless of the basis used to make a comparison, the reality boils down to this: the bigger boys holding the upper hand, and nearer to the ear of the leaders of the PPP/C Government, have been able to walk away with the fat and marrow and all the choice cuts contained in this year’s outsized budget. Whether a comparison is done in dollars, the big boys win out hands down. When it is on percentage terms, the big boys are way ahead. If the basis is put side by side, inclusive of segments and sectors identified and rewarded richly, it is the same big boys that the honourable minister takes it upon himself to run interference for and put in a less than game fight on their behalf. I assert this most strenuously: it is the big boys who are on the receiving end of the largest share of the pie.
The Minister said that they pay a great share of the taxes in this country, surely that can’t be either comparison or defense, given the level of business that is done, the profits that are consistently reaped, and the big boys’ immense share in the welfare embedded in prior budgets, and delivered with them specifically in mind; they get lush premiums on investments and risks. It is what they are in business for, and of which jobs are a necessary byproduct of their endeavours. I remind the Hon Minister that when the oil companies in America profited enormously around the time of the Gulf War, there was great public outrage at the unfairness of it all, the imbalances that made the ordinary citizen bleed through the nose. This is almost the same that is happening here. Smaller citizens are struggling in a relentless pandemic and with spiraling costs for basics, while the people above them celebrate the extravagances of government’s welfare extended to their kind and class.
If one were to talk about tax relief provisions, the sum of them races away from the paltry little that the little people got, and for which they are expected to be grateful. If the discussion were to emphasize the vast spending intended for numerous areas in the public sector, it is those same big boys, who Minister Indar intervenes on behalf that would be standing in line to be awarded the billions in contracts that are sure to come their way. The big boys benefit not once but, more accurately and traditionally (as the minister should know well), in several ways, some not directly in the budget. First, they get the tax relief that has meaning for them (unlike the little people); then, they get to share in the largesse of rich budget fruits, through contracts that are down the line developments made possible by the budget (out of bounds for the little people); they get to rip-off the Guyanese taxpayers for an unwritten and unspoken, but self-empowered, benefit through the tentacles of corruption practices that bedevil this land (unlike the little out of contention Guyanese, who pay for their predations); and last (maybe not), the very same big boys get to turn around and game the tax system to evade paying what is due from them.
For sure, the 2022 National Budget is focused on how much is to be spent and in which areas, but one does not need to possess any overwhelming degree of wisdom to appreciate how the big boys have been favoured over and over again, directly and indirectly, from this year’s budget. The more money in it for the areas that they engage in and dominate, the more they are the ones prospering, and leave all other citizens lagging far behind.
I think that the best yardstick has to do with who got way more versus who got far too little could be gauged from the reactions to the budget by the big boys (richer) class and the working (poorer) class. The former, as represented by the private sector and its varied business interests, has come out in overflowing praise and gratitude for the 2022 National Budget, as they should, since to do anything else in the light of its many prospering provisions would be the height of ingratitude. What the PPP/C Government did for it and its members in this year’s budget outran their expectations and whispered inside arrangements. There is yet to be a single private sector (big boys’ club area/individual/entity to cry disappointment). On the other hand, the poor wring their hands in disappointment, disbelief, and despair at the meagerness of what the Budget 2022 has in it for them.
I dare to suggest to Minister Indar that the reactions of both groups in our population speak for themselves, as to who did very well, and who did poorly.

Sincerely,
GHK Lall

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