Prime Minister Ingraham Announces Additional Tariff Removals

Prime Minister the Rt. Hon. Hubert Ingraham is pictured in the House of Assembly on Monday, May 30, making his contribution to the 23011-2012 Budget Debate. (BIS Photos/Peter Ramsay)

By BIS

NASSAU – The Government is making it easier for business owners to secure their properties and to assist in crime fighting efforts through the elimination of customs duty on surveillance equipment.

During debate on the 2011/2012 budget, Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham tabled the Revenue Act Order, advising that it removes “customs duty on all surveillance cameras and their apparatus, with a view to assisting businesses and helping us with law enforcement and crime prevention.”

The Prime Minister also announced via the Order the removal of customs duty on Kindles (e-book readers), consistent with the Government’s elimination of customs duty on computers, and announced the elimination of customs duty on pet food.

Regarding revenue expenditure in the 2011/2012 budget, Prime Minister Ingraham also advised that the salaries of Cabinet Ministers and Parliamentarians will be restored to its pre 2010/2011 fiscal budget amounts as of July 1 (the start of the new fiscal year).

In the current fiscal budget, the salary of the Prime Minister was reduced by 10 per cent and that of Parliamentarians, in both the House of Assembly and the Senate, by 5 per cent.

The duty allowances of the Prime Minister and Ministers was reduced by 50 per cent, resulting in a 16% reduction in the Prime Minister’s take-home pay and a 7.3% reduction in the take home pay of Cabinet Ministers and the Speaker of the House of Assembly.

For the Leader of the Opposition and Members of the House, those measures represented a 5 per cent cut in pay.