Former Finance Minister Colm Imbert is raising alarm bells over what he calls hidden measures in the Finance Bill set for debate this Friday.
He says the proposed legislation contains a series of changes that unfairly target ordinary citizens while giving the Government greater control over key financial institutions.
00:00Former Finance Minister Colm Imbert is doubling down on his claim that the upcoming finance bill contains new measures that will hit the small man in his pocket.
00:11The Prime Minister alleged that the finance bill simply implements what was stated in the budget.
00:20To use the very kind language of Dr. Brown, that's a lie.
00:26And let me tell you what it actually does.
00:28There's some very dangerous things inside of here.
00:31Imbert points to several previously unannounced clauses.
00:35Clause 3, for example, which proposes increased penalties under the Gambling and Betting Act.
00:40If you have a raffle and you don't call out the results of the raffle inside the premises in which the raffle is being held,
00:48at the time the raffle is being held, you would currently face a fine of $750.
00:55Now, these things could happen.
00:58A church, a school could have a raffle and they publish the results the next day or they go outside and they publish the results.
01:05The fine is currently $750.
01:08They're increasing that to $30,000.
01:12Clause 5 amends the Statistics Act given who he calls the politically appointed governor of the central bank the authority to create government statistics,
01:24a move Imbert calls unprecedented.
01:26A political appointee, not a public servant, because countries all over the world rely on public officers
01:36to jealously and professionally guard statistical data such as GDP and inflation and so on, important statistics.
01:47Now, the politically appointed governor of the central bank will be given authority to make up his own economic data.
01:55And this will now become the official data of the country.
01:58Unheard of.
01:59Even more measures, he claims, were left out of the fiscal package, including Clause 10,
02:05which raises the fine for not registering a vehicle within seven days of purchase.
02:11I didn't see this in the budget.
02:14Increases the fine for not registering the transfer of a vehicle after seven days of change of possession from $200 to $500.
02:23And the fine for operating a vehicle for a purpose that it is not registered for, from $8,000 to $12,000.
02:31Clause 14 amends the External Loans Act, increasing the government's borrowing limit from $50 million to $45 billion.
02:40It's curious because it's not clear whether this will increase the limit from the current $30 billion for foreign loans to $75 billion or $45 billion.
02:51It's not clear.
02:53But what it certainly does is increases the limit for foreign borrowing by at least $15 billion.
03:02It's obvious that the government wants to go foreign to borrow money for whatever it plans to do.
03:09That is very, very dangerous.
03:11Clause 15 revises the structure of the Board of Inland Revenue, adding two government appointees with access to,
03:18according to IMBOOT, private citizens' information, potentially influencing assessments, refunds and returns.
03:26This is an attack on institutions.
03:31I dare say an attack on democracy and an attack on privacy.
03:38Clause 15 changes the composition of the Board of Inland Revenue, as it now stands,
03:43from five public officers.
03:45These are people who would come through the ranks and be promoted and eventually be promoted to become a commissioner of Inland Revenue.
03:53There are five of them right now.
03:56It changes the composition to six public officers.
03:59And here's where the danger comes in.
04:03And two political appointees.
04:06That is unheard of.
04:08He also criticised the landlord tax, calling it clumsy, convoluted and punishing ordinary citizens.
04:15An elderly couple has built an annex next to their home and they rent it out.
04:19There are so many of those.
04:21And then persons may have a small dwelling house and they're renting it out and so on.
04:27Apartments.
04:28Why on earth would the government do this?
04:32You have to register as a landlord.
04:36So all these little people who rent in a room in the house just to earn a little extra change,
04:41this is targeting them.
04:43All these elderly people renting a little annex, this is targeting them.
04:47You have to register.
04:48You have to fill out a form.
04:50You have to identify who the tenant is.
04:53If the tenant changes, you have to go and register again.
04:56This is what this government is doing to little people in this country.
05:00Imbud further criticised the government for imposing higher taxes on breweries that produce more,
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