But with so much revenue from new taxes, what's government doing on the expenditure side? Well, overall, that's coming down by about 60 million dollars with a freeze on expenditure, but there's one area that's going up sharply, and that's wages and pensions. Those are increasing by about 32 million dollars as government pays out the last tranche of its promised wage increase to teachers and public officers. Now wages are usually frozen during a time of austerity and cutbacks, and the IMF would even go further and recommend retrenchment. But, the Barrow administration is going in the other direction when it comes to teachers and public officers - and we asked the tough questions that naturally arise from that apparent contradiction:...
Jules Vasquez, 7News
"Sir, are we the other tax payers being held hostage, being made to pay for these people when they are ruthlessly inefficient. 50% of our children failed PSE and more will fail this year because of the strike. So why are we, the tax payers, being made to bankroll that?"
Rt. Hon. Dean Barrow, Prime Minister
"Well its a point of view. It is not my point of view."
Jules Vasquez, 7News
"It cannot be your point of view because you are in the business of winning elections."
Rt. Hon. Dean Barrow, Prime Minister
"Well not anymore. But look, I prefer to think that certainly in terms of the public officers with whom I am principally concerned, that a good faith effort is being made by the public officers to curtail costs, to cut expenses."
Jules Vasquez, 7News
"But speaking to the larger issue in principle, a large section of the population must bankroll these increases."
Rt. Hon. Dean Barrow, Prime Minister
"That has always been the case, that a large section of our population bankrolls the payment of these people. Now as those payments increase, you are right, there is more pressure on the public that whose taxes help to pay for these things. It's a very nice conundrum. I've try to approach it, to look at things in the round and I believe that while continued pressure will be put on public officers and on teachers to do better, I don't think the general public would like to see these people sent home at all."
According to the Prime Minister, over the last four years public officers and teachers have received an aggregate increase of 25% in wages and salaries, costing the Government over $90 million.
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