BLP reveals manifesto

Say goodbye to road tax as you know it.

Under a new Barbados Labour Party government, road tax in its current form will be scrapped for a smaller levy according to that political group’s economic consultant, Dr. Clyde Mascoll.

Addressing a massive crowd last night at the Plumgrove Pasture, Kingsland, he stated that those who used the island’s roads the most, would be those required to pay more.

“Do you know that the road tax on a business vehicle is $400? Do you know that you have to pay $900, $1600 dollars all kinds of things? Well that has to change. It has to change because the tax does not make sense. You are taxed for the CCs of a car to determine road usage. What we are going to do is we abolishing road tax,” he said gaining loud cheers and applause.

Mascoll detailed however that as a responsible government, it would shift the incidence of the tax towards the business community.

“Those people who use the road most, should pay the most. It is called equity and justice, so therefore we are going to transfer the road tax to a small tax in fuel and as a result those businesses that use the heavy vehicles on the road and are on the road all day will pay it proportionately,” he added.

Mascoll insisted that the island was in dire straits, but it was time to think “your way out of the box”.

Earlier in his speech on how Barbados could make its way out of the current situation, he noted that it called for the re-profiling of the island’s domestic debt as had been suggested by both former Prime Minister Owen Arthur and Agriculture Minister David Estwick, remarking that it would save the country hundreds of millions of dollars. (JMB)