Mac asks CUC to absorb tax
(CNS): The country’s premier has asked CUC and the pump operators not to pass on government’s 25 cent increase in gas tax to customers. McKeeva Bush told the Legislative Assembly on Thursday that the suppliers made enough profit on a gallon of fuel to absorb the new duty and pleaded with them not to make the people pay. He criticized the opposition for not supporting the levy, which he said was still small given the circumstances. Bush said they should be backing him in the plea to the fuel suppliers instead of criticising as, he warned, it could have been a property or income tax if he had not worked so hard to find an alternative.
During an extremely heated presentation of the bill to amend the Custom’s Tariff Law to increase government’s take on fuel from 50 cents to 75 cents a gallon for gas and from 60 cents to 85 cents on diesel, the premier said he did not want to do it but had been forced to find revenue from somewhere.
“Something had to be done to address the fiscal problem and we have chosen not to chicken out,” he said, referring to the difficult decision he made compared to what he said was the opposition’s inaction when the economic problems first appeared. “The fact is leadership requires prudence and I have made the tough decisions in the interest of the community.”
The mark up on fuel provided more than enough room, Bush indicated, for the suppliers to reduce that rather than increase their prices to the people and he asked them to help government with this situation. Bush told the Legislative Assembly (LA) that, when the UK government said the Cayman government could not borrow all it needed to get through this financial year, they told him he had to find the rest of it somewhere else.
The premier pointed out that he could have been standing up in the LA presenting a bill for property or income tax, and berated the opposition benches for criticising the fuel duty increase. He said their opposition to it was merely a political ploy and they were criticising without all the facts.
It did not suit them, he said, to support him and accept that the duty increase was a much more preferable alternative, as they would all prefer to make it look as though he had done nothing good for the country.
He said the decision to choose fuel was far less of an impact on everyone than the licensing increases proposed by the independent member Ezzard Miller. Bush claimed the duty would only equal a 5% increase on fuel bills and would be more equitable. He explained that this increase would vary with the amounts people consumed, whereas Miller’s suggestion would see people with small cars still paying as much as those with large SUVs.
Listing all of the ‘could have beens’ if government had introduce property or income tax, Bush said no matter how low these type of taxes started, they would always increase and everyone would have been paying a lot more than they will with this small increase. He gave the comparison that just a 1% tax on a modest property of $200,000 would see owners pay $1000 per year. His fuel duty increase, however, would equate to only $120 per year on an average monthly bill of $200.
Becoming increasingly angry during his presentation as a result of the criticisms railed against the tax increase, Bush hit out at the opposition benches, saying he had been forced to go to the UK cap in hand and beg for money because of the mess they had left.
The premier said he had to take the licks over the fuel increase but it was the preferable option. “We couldn’t get out of doing something and it is the best thing to do,” Bush said. “You think this is what I wanted?” he asked the House rhetorically.
He said the opposition was misleading the country over this increase and the press were helping them. Bush criticised the Compass and CNS, which he said was rubbish, as well as the talk-shows and said he turned off the radio when the opposition were on as it was using the media to mislead the public.
Called up by the speaker, who told the premier to stick to the subject of the debate, Bush pointed out that he was speaking about what had been said about it on the radio, the blogs and in the press and was entitled to raise the issues as it was related. However, the speaker disagreed and adjourned the House before the premier had completed his presentation.
The debate is now scheduled to resume at 10:30am on Friday.
Category: Headline News
Economics and Common Sense…..
Pay cuts, eliminating CS jobs… none of this is actually going to help Mac and his advisors balance the budget….. cause for every 3.2 % cut he has made he has increased his expenditure in some way…… just listen to the budget debate…….. there has been increases in expenditure in almost every category……..!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Decrease pay, cut jobs to give us more money to spend…….. strange way to find yourself out of a recession
Increase payments on everything he can find… permit fees, gas etc. to increase his revenue he says…….. but has not decreased any expenditures….. either needs a course of Economics 101 or a bit of Common Sense 101
Mr Premier,
please have a chat with Mr Allan Neesome of ESSO and Mr Brian Bain of Chevron to see if you can get those oil companies to absorb that $0.25.
Do not ask CUC or Gas dealers, you are wasting your breath casue it nah gona happen. COMPANIES ARE IN THE BUSINESS TO MAKE A PROFIT. If you want this to happen, lower the licensing fees.
Mr. Premier, may I suggest you fire your current economic advisors hirer intellegent and seasoned advisors so as to get the good ship back on a even Keel?
Your hoping that the Gas dealers and CUC will absorb that twenty five cents is a far out wish. Speak to the OIL COMPANIES who are killing us and not the dealers who can hardly pay its bills.
Mac…..you must be XXXXXXX! You are not willing to absorb the 30% cut that you suggested for yourself but you expect businesses to willingly absorb this increased duty. Come on, are you that naive!
This is not rocket science! You need to cut expenses. Yes, it means that people will need to be laid off. Use some of the savings to implement real training programs that will help locals become qualified in the areas where you currently need expats.
I realize that you want to be re-elected and are afraid of alienating voters but do you seriously think this is better? You would rather affect the entire population than get rid of those employees that you really don’t really need. That’s why you did an across the board 3.2% pay cut rather than eliminate unneeded posts.
I had bigger hopes for your leadership but I realize now that you are nothing more than a XXXXXXX!
As fuel station operator, I would like to inform my customers and the general public that 25 cents is actually more than the profit that we currently make on a gallon of fuel. The government already makes more per gallon than we do at the existing duty rate. If we were to absorb the increase as suggested, we would be entering a loss situation and could not continue in this business. For the avoidance of doubt, my profit will not increase with the coming increase in the price of fuel, quite the opposite, my profit margin will actually decrease as a percentage relative to the total retail price of a gallon of fuel.
I don’t know what sort of profit margin Exxon and/or Chevron are making on their sales to us the retailers, and whether or not they can afford to absorb the duty increase, but history has demonstratedthat the bulk fuel business typically operates without a conscience. Likewise, I do not know what sort of profit margin CUC enjoys, but I can assure you that neither it’s upper management nor it’s board of directors can be seen to act to the detriment of the company and it’s shareholders, I suspect that they would not remain in a management or board member position for very long when those who own shares in CUC start to see the value of those shares decreasing. Business, as they say, is business!
This is a simply classic attempt to shift the blame for what will be an inevitable increase in the cost of living when, I for one, see no need to shift the blame at all. It’s time to step up and make some real decisions for the good of the country and it’s future, the present situation is unsustainable and it will be our children who pay the price of our indecision and reluctance to sacrifice. Think of the sacrifices that our forefathers made for us, to put us where we are today, yet we bicker and complain when asked to do the same, like the spoilt children of prosperity that we are.
Furthermore, anyone who would suggest that any form of direct taxation would be better is quite simply in denial, profoundly ignorant of the realities of taxation and/or just plain obstinate. I truly hope that I never live to see the day that I am reading commentary on CNS about people losing their houses to the Government because they cannot afford to pay property tax or going to Northward for trying to evade income taxes! No, my question is, what other luxuries can we find to raise import duties on? I suggest that we start with automobiles, simply because, given the number of vehicles sitting on car lots for sale today, whether brand new or Japanese deportees, we obviously have not yet reached anywhere near the point where the cost of owning a vehicle is prohibitive. Consider that in other caribbean islands import duties on vehicles can be as much as 100% yet it still does not seem to deter people from owning one or more.
Anyway, if you’ve reached this far in my commentary I say thanks for tuning in and before I go, please allow me to make one last point, as it would be remiss of me if I didn’t point out the blatantly obvious way that any well run business would try to achieve profitability. That is, to reduce cost! If our government is truly committed to balancing the budget, then our government needs to take a long hard look at itself and how it might introduce efficiencies and reduce overheads associated with running this country, instead of only looking around at us, the people, and trying to figure out more ways to force us to support the status quo.
The Premier’s request demonstrates his apparent lack of business acumen and I dare say even common sense. Wow …. how horrible for the people of the Cayman Islands that you have someone of this caliber running your country!
This is total madness – apart from the hardship that this . 25% cents will cost the average family, what about the impact it will have our struggling CAL and a Boatswain Beach? Can you imagine if we just had to give CAL 20 M before this .25 cents duty increase, what we will have to give them in the next six months,once the increase kicks in. I reckon those jets dont drink a lot of fuel.
And what about BB, I bet they need a lot of fuel to keep those tanks and air conditioning running. I bet no one was smart enough to include the fuel increase in their budgets. I suspect come Jan. 11 they will be going back to the LA for supplimentary funding.
hey lets have a lottery on mac and see what he might put tax on next
$100,000.00 pot
Dear Mr. Mac,
I suggest you get out those knee pads you used with the FCO to start negotiatons with CUC. Theyseem to be your lucky charm when it comes to these sticky situations.
Mac XXXX? he as the leader not going to take a 30% pay cut and blaming his perks on the constitution yet he wants to ask someone else to absorbed the costs? What ever happens to lead by example?
this guy is delusional, i listened to him on the radio, saying the cost will affect only those that can afford it like people with cars and CUC, i then said to my self will not cuc just past the cost on to every one else, and almost everyone has a car?
Clueless people should not be running a country! Cause there is only one direction it will run, right into the ground!
I agree, personally i have given up smoking, sold my car (so we are now a 1 car family) unemployed so struggling with utilities, so i guess i will have to go to oil lamps, luckily, i have a gas cooker…… or will butane also be increasing soon?????
Mr.B has all his utilities probably a cleaner and car expenses paid, 3.2% cut for him will not hurt one bit, what about the other civil servants who are earning under $3000.00 how much tighter can they pull in their belts……
Sorry but Cayman is not the place it was, it is now more concerned for the mighty dollar, what happen’d to CARING about the PEOPLE who make Cayman the amazing Island it was!!!!!
Big Mac… I welcome the property tax, but you too afraid to XXX off the rich cause they running deh country. My property value $400,000 yea I know 1% is $4000 a year but all dem fellas which is mostly expats that have dem $4 Mil property would have to pay $40000 a year. Now we talking about some good money to balance the budget…so come on Mac be deh man and bring the property tax…but you know your rich goonies would have your head.
Mac not all of us is uneducated…some of we went school whole day and got some egibication yah no….
How about taxing the Real Estate and the rich people for a change McKeeva. All these years us poor people of these Islands have to be the ones absorb these taxes. Please start Taxing your rich friends and perhaps you should start paying some tax also. Since most of these problems were created by YOU and the other elected members. Anybody that makes a salary over KYD 7,000 per month and property tax on any resident and business worth KYD 500,000 and more. Tax these people the poor people of Cayman cannot handle any more taxes. Leave CUC alone, as you know Damn well the fees will be passed on to the consumers.
If he is asking CUC and gas station owners not to pass on the tax to customers, then why doesn’t he just ask them to pay a lump sum annually towards the government deficit – that is what he is in effect asking for.
We will continue to be oppressed and pushed into poverty whether we like it or not by both of these political parties in their tug of war.
Mac is an embarrasment to these islands.
The next election should be island wide with each voter casting one vote. The 11 candidates with the most votes get elected.
Sorry we don’t need 11 people to run this country 2 people is quite fine cause our civil service is running the country now.
Every one has there own opinion but i as a caymanian is so sick of hearing this one and that one about well this is how its done in this country and they have benifit from it please understand we are not some Big a** country like those that you are discribing us with we dont even have enough coconuts around any more to get coconut water from talking about hiking this and that they say that we are the Island that time forgot honestly i wish time had did forget this lil island sometimes because maybe we mite not be in this mess that we are in now.
Where the coconuts gone??
XXXXX
Remember him speaking to the supermarkets, Water Authority, CUC, Cayman Water etc about not passing on to consumers his first increase in taxes right after he was elected ??
Look at how well that turned out Mac !!!…….Try "sumting" new nah !!!!
But of course dem Bayas sayn….."Look ya…Miac……fixing CUC dough…..dah wha a say…..he deh match"
No, the poor people of this country will absorb the poor decisions of the UDP … all of them.
How about a yearly $200 head tax for ALL residents (locals and expats) over the age of 21. This would be easy to collect and if my math serves me right I would say that somewhere in the region of about CI$9-10,000,000.00 could be collected.
Also, the installation of TWO (2) toll booths, one in/out of West Bay and one in/out of the Eastern Districts- at a cost of 0.50 cents to transit the stations- this would bring in enough revenue to maintain the roads. If 8000 cars per day pass through the booth, this equates to $4,000 per day, $28,000 per week, $112,000 per month or $1, 344,000 per year.
Increasing the cost of a consumable that effects the entire dispora of the country is NOT the way to get money. The one negative trickle down effect will be less customers/consumers buying- which could then mean even higher prices and closures of business.
I’m on board with the resident tax…not so sure about the toll booths though, I don’t think they would be justified. It’s not like we are crossing into different states, or even counties – just districts!
This is a dangerous line of thinking. Our government actually receives more than enough revenue to pay for essentials. What it should be doing is cutting its expenses. Additional taxes will only aggravate the problem of fiscal indiscipline. Please don’t let’s encourage our rulers to raise and waste even more money.
Did ya smoke something this morning? A toll booth?!? So instead of going the by-pass people would opt to track through South Sound, Crewe Road and along Westbay Road? I thought the reason for the by-passes was to eliviate traffic from the residential areas. So a two-car household who has two employed parents who have to pick up kids from school and drop them home and then come back to work has to pass a toll booth on an average of 6 (or even 8) times a day? Wow!
McKeeva is taking too much advice on how to run this Island from a bunch of expats who are only providing their service for their own benefit and who in turn sit and laugh while having a drink with their croonies. McKeeva need to get a hold of himself, take some anger management classes and a few lessons on public speaking. I cannot understand why McKeeva is so angry and agressive all the time. However, I believe that once his speech is written and agreed, he does not know how to veer from the written subjects and when questioned on topics other than what is in front of him, he just does not know how to respond other than with anger. Sad indeed.
McKeeva takes too much advice? He’s never really been known for taking advice. McKeeva does not know how to veer from the written subjects? Apparently you’ve never heard him give a speech or you would know better. Not sure who you’re thinking of, but it is not our Premier.
Taking too much advice from expats!! Are you kidding me! Do think expats want to pay increases in petrol and CUC anymore than a Caymanian? Hate to break it to you, but the expats get screwed by this government just as much as any Caymanian – therefore don’t be pointing fingers at a specific group as we are all going to be financially affected by the decisions made by the goverment of Cayman.
Mac and all you LAs – take the 20%-30% paycut already!
The real problem of the Cayman islands is not the lack of money the Government is getting but what it is spent on. The money SHOULD be spent on the welfare of the ones who contributed the money in the first place.
Instead it is spent on the welfare of the Government and all of their associates to the point of making the contributors suffer. The only solution left to those who contribute is to stop contributing. Either because they cannot afford to or because they choose to spend their money on something that benefits themselves and their families and not on something that they get NO benefit from. For most of the contributors this means leaving and this has already started. For the rest it means trying to get away with paying the least possible. This has already started also. This should be enough proof that those in charge have made Grand Cayman a place where only the certain Caymanians have a future. At least until the bills come due. For now those who are connected to the turtle farm, Cayman airways, civil service, and all the other Government sponsored welfare services are the only ones benefiting from from all the money that goes into the Governments purse. Its easy to see by the comments who is on the welfare system and who is paying for it. My wife and I have already left and are awaiting the day that the current system fails to the point that Cayman starts new. Hopefully soon.
He is minister of finance and chairman of the finance committee and:
"he gave the comparison that just a 1% tax on a modest property of $200,000 would see owners pay $1000 per year."
actually 1% of 200,000 is 2,000. We are bang in trouble
LOL! This occurred to me this a.m. as well. He is now obviously and demonstrably out of his depth.
Shut up, Foo Foo. Dis wah my speech writers wrote fuh me!
Das right! It were Ken who write it an he math na too good neither.
Wow and this man is in charge of overseeing billions. We’re doomed.
1) if the government reduces the civil service it will be causing a severe negative impact on a very large middle class. so yes we must reduce expenditure but lets also recognise that there will be further unemployment, that it is not a simple matter of each civil servants being employed by the private sector and that many of our middle class will be hurt financially and disenfranchised.
2) if the government raises ANY taxes it will be criticised for hurting this group or that group or the little man on the street etc.
3) If the Government taxes business further, a lot of us will further rejoice because we mistakenly feel that it will not hurt "us". Of course it will hurt us all severely and would be a major mistake as far as the current recession conditions are concerned.
so what can this government or any other do? this whole "do anything but not in my backyard" mentally will get us no where.
taxes in a recession is far from idealbut we have recession at a time when we are also in serious fiscal difficulties without any reserves to assist us and the government must do what it can to balance the books.
Agreed; however, the "… government must do what it can to balance the books," which includes the MLAs taking a cut on their over-inflated salaries; the Premier paying is how electricity bills and the security detail being adjusted to appropriate levels that suit a "2 by 4" country. I don’t even think Obama has as much security as the Premier and the Deputy …….. although, that country is just as broke, so I could stand to be corrected ……..
Shut up, unna Foo Foo bloggers. CNS is rubbish.
I goin’ take licks but it’s your fault.
If it’s not your fault it’s the PPM or Protocol office or…
Cha!
The only thing you and your leader seem to be able to do is point your finger at the PPM, THATS IT, THATS ALL YOU DO.
Try get your XXXX leader to listen to what the peolpe are saying. All he and his supporters can do is shout that it was someone elses fault. GROW UP AND DO SOMETHING. Acting like a little kid throwing a temper tantrum when he doesn’t like something just shows the mentality of this guy. Grow some balls and suck it up like everyone else does, you are an adult. Its downright embarassing to the country when he acts the way he does and if you can’t see that I feel very sorry for you.
Blaming others does not solve problems and its an easy diversion to point the blame somewhere else, get over it and deal with it, IT NEEDS TO BE DONE.
His position as it stands is to help and lead this country forward, but all he seems to be able to do is dwell on the past, and make life harder and harder every day for everyone else except himself.
Last time I checked we are all allowed to voice our own opinion and the fact that Mac cant take heed of any of it is sad and very disturbing. He is in politics in case he didn’t know, it comes with the territory. What he needs to do is listen to both sides instead his own, then you might see some progress. Its called being objective.
The reason why this site is what it is, is because there is no other way for us to voice our opinion to the dictator, it falls on deaf ears. At least we know he reads this though.
Obviously you have no idea what is going on around you otherwise you would be moving on and learning to deal with the situation we are in, instead of pointing your finger at the PPM like a monkey.
This shows just how clueless Mac is.
CUC has a responsibility to its shareholders. That responsibility is to make a profit. Social responsibility aside they are not going to make a decision to reduce their profit margin by a whopping 5%.
Another day in Absurdistan with MacDinejad at the helm.
Isn’t this hypocritical? The premeire wants CUC to absorb the tax but he doesn’t want to absorb his own light bill or other expenses???
We need to Walk!!!
Walk then, stop talking (or typing) and expecting someone else to take the lead.
Is this McKeeva’s attempt at trying to make us forget that he get’s his CUC bills paid for by the public?
Here’s a WILD idea, Mac. Why don’t you and all your lackies take your damn paycuts!
25 cents per gallon increase will result in a 40 cent increase at the pump.
That means a daily increase in going to work cost of 50$ per month for us going to work.
All consumer products will go up in price.
It is time for a revolution. Unfortunately on this island we are dealing with a bunch of fanatic church goers that will naively and conservatively accept anything that the government does. Nobody uses their brains here.
The ones understanding this are a minority of educated young people (new generation) that understand that there is no god, only good people and bad people.
Lets go on the street an stop this bs.
CNS: Is it possible to do a survey to determine the average CNS reader and commentator based on education, age, religious etc ? The problem is that we need to inform the "other" people about what is happening here, because they don’t check CNS.
CNS could consider a paper version, so these idiots can be informed.
We on earth are you blaming churchgoers for this, and what has opposition to Mr. Bush’s policies got to do with embracing atheism? Did the churches welcome his proposal to introduce gambling?
I happen to be a young, very well educated Caymanian who does believe in God and have serious concerns about Mr. Bush’s fitness for the office of Premier.
Did you all hear that appalling response that our Premier had to the Speaker of the House? In response to her ruling that he was straying outside the area of debate, he basically told her that he did not want to get into an argument with her, that she did not know what she was doing and should go and read Erskine May (the authoritative text on British parliamentary practice). To her credit the Speaker stood her ground, stated that when she ruled there is no argument and recessed for 5 minutes in order to allow the Premier to get himself under control, to which the Premier retorted that she (rather than he) was out of control. Does he not understand that the Speaker outranks him in the House? Why is someone who constantly demands respect as the Premier not showing due respect to the Speaker? This has (1) increased my respect for the Speaker immensely who has now demonstrated that she is not a puppet of the govt.; and (2) increased my alarm that we have a Premier who is totally out of control and really needs to be removed from office.
People of Cayman, WAKE UP!
I agree with you 1000%This is not the first time that he has been admonished in the house.So my hat is off to the Speaker who in her wisdom has rightfully put him straight on protocol in the house.Mr.Premier please stop your foolishness and just do the job at hand which is to try to get this Island back on track.DO listen to others.There is lots of GOOD advice out there but you have to forget your PPM bashing and bashing in general as this only goes to let the world outside know where we have fallen to and this is only making our situation worse.Come on man you are bigger than this and I know that you can do better.In the long run we ALL want the same ending and that is a truly wonderful place to live ..Our children,your children demand this for their futures.Dont let them DOWN.
cns: surely this issue is worthy of it’s own story?
Because CUC have been given a monopoly on supplying electricity in Cayman, there is less than zero chance of them taking the hit on this. I reckon that they’ll find a way to sneak a few cents extra on to the rates themselves for their troubles.
The gas stations are part of a price fixing cartel so they won’t be taking a hit either.
Big Mac knows this full well but is making the token gesture to make it look like he cares.
You voted for him. You’ve got no excuses for whichever way he tries to ruin your islands.
The first part of your post is confused. The fact that CUC will not accept this has to do with the fact that they are a BUSINESS, a publicly traded company no less, and has nothing to do with being a monopoly. On their licence, CUC can only pass-through the costs of fuel (duty included) to consumers, no more.
The gas stations do offer different prices per gallon. That was the point of requiring them to advertise prices. I doubt that they have a sufficient margin per gallon to be able to take a 25 cent cut.
I ask Mac to absorb his utility bills and pass those costs onto the tax payer
I think the word "not" is missing from your post (as in "not" pass it on to the taxpayer).
Am i reading a clip from Cayman’s funniest home videos? I am ashamed as a Caymanian to know that we have a Premier that should go down in history as one of the most XXXX. I am asking if he would go back to old bush and host comedy shows and donate the money to the Government.
What also puzzles me is that all the other UDP members are better educated than this man but can’t seem to get him to shut his mouth with all this garbage. Collective irresponsibility must not prevail.
Obviously the Premier and his govt. has not thought about the impact of this minsly .25% increase. He refers only the the electricity increase, but what about the increase of gas for our cars, water bills, food, entainment, hotel accommodations etc. Everything on this island is impacted by gas and diesel. If he thinks this will only impact our electricity bill then he can think again.
With this increase all households on this island will see anywhere from $200-$350. a month increase in expenses, thats what it will cost.
This is one time, i can agree with the opposition. They are right on this, but after all the opposition can only see these things when they are the opposition. If they were the govt. they would probably do worse – direct taxation maybe?. After all it was them who created this whole financial mess.
I am happy the cencus is not yet began because it will give an eye opener.
Ah the screw is turning. Property tax is next and is a complete destruction of the Caymanian dream and privilege of free and clear home/land ownership.
It has been our right for hundreds of years and we are going to sit back and let this treachery occur on our watch?
XXXXX
The facts are very simple. We are spending more than we are bringing in. The solution is easy. Spend less!
God willing, I will stand against you at the next election and roll back the pain that you have inflicted on the decent people of these islands. At that time, you will know me.
Failing that, I would like to believe that the stench of this oppression has reached the nostrils of the Most High God and His fury is kindled against you as He breaks down your stupid wall, removes your syncophants and judges you publicly before His people, the ones you are ruling with your merciless rod.
I hope that no one is ever given so much power in the future to rule us like this man has done. What a complete and utter disappointment.
God bless the Cayman Islands.
Does the Premier really think that CUC and Gas Stations owners are going to absorb the cost of the .25 cents, then he is mistaken. This is almost like his foolish idea a few weeks ago, asking supermarkets to give discounts to civil servants. What did they say, NO, well that is a good indication what will happen again. They too are all about the money.
Folks, what has just happen here is that the poor people of this "two by four" land will feel the pinch the hardest and the middle class will soon join them, while the rich get richer. I guess that is what they meant when they said a better way forward, but for who? The rich.
My wish today is for the bright minds to start preparing to take over the leadership of this country, because i am sick and tired of the same foolish decisions that is destroying any prospects for its ordinary citizens to survive.
Disregarding some of the grammatical errors, which even the brightest minds sometime make, I agree with your posting. And I covenant to do my share by making myself available to lead if chosen. For too long, followers like myself, have allowed self professed leaders to take us to where we now find ourselves. It will not be satisfactory going forward to blindly support friends because they are friends. We must demand true leadership of our elected leaders; leaders who make difficult decisions because they are right and just-not because the decisions are popular or expedient.
It baffles the mind to see the ignorance that is taking place within the so called leadership of the Cayman Islands. Raising fuel costs at this time is as ignorant an idea as anyone could imagine. Placing a minor property tax on the million dollar properties on Seven Mile Beach would bring in millions and, guess what, the millionaires would not mind it at all – it would be pocket money to them. In fact, I have had several of them tell me so! Yet, our "leaders" choose instead to tax the poor and middle class by increasing fuel costs. Then everyone is questioning why the robberies are taking place? The answer is a nobrainer guys.
Where does Mac think CUC and the pump operators will
get the money to :"absorb" his new taxes?
From the shareholders of CUC, some of which may be held by
our pension plans? Or from funds that CUC must use for maintenance?
Why not just take over private business and convert everyone to
civil servants?
This sort of mouthing off could seriously harm private investment in large scale Cayman projects. Mac is too stupid to work that out. CUC pricing is arranged through a regulator on the basis of the existing fiscal framework. If investors see CUC being pressurised politically into substantially reducing regulated margins it will deter investment.
Let’s hope that this was just idiotic mouthing off on Rooster – at least then it was pitched at the right intellectual level.
An alternative to increasing fuel tax would be cutting the size of the civil service and reducing its benefits to private sector levels. Since that has not/will not be done, this tax is probably fairly sensible as fuel here is still cheap compared to many other countries other than the USA.
It is really obvious that you do not have a clue about what has been going on in the civil service. The civil service has been cutting everything in sight but you will be the first to complain when your garbage is not picked up, or the police are not around or houses burn down.
There are parts of the civil service that needs to be privatised but as McKeeva say no one wants to buy the parts he wants to sell. Can we truely sell CAL or the Turtle Farm. Regardless of their latest attempts to doctor the figures they are losing a lot of money. People will buy the water company because it makes money. But the government needs that revenue to run.
Implementing property tax for foreigners who have properties here is the solution. If it runs the foreigners away, so what!! We will have at least some of our island for our children.
We the Caymanians have short memories, why did we vote out Mr. Bush 4 years ago? Kurt didn’t do a much better job mind you, but people where is your backbone?
We did not have to vote for either party! We could have simply refused to vote (I didn’t). Everyone keeps talking about doing a referendum to oust the UDP but we will then be stuck with PPM. Still in the same mess. Personally I feel that all the MLAs that have served or ran for 2 or more terms should RETIRE, how are we, the younger generation going to have an opportunity to REALLY have our say in what happens to our country?
I get sick to my stomach to hear the mentality of the BORN Caymanians, they will voice their opinion but when put to the plate they can’t put action to their words. What are you all afraid of? This is our country and it is time we take our stand.
Here is an idea! Smaller government! Why is government in any business that the private sector can, will or should be in? Why do we have Boatswains bay? Why do we not sell a large portion of Cayman airways to the private sector? Why do we have 5 & 6 men mowing the medians with one lawn mower a weedwacker and a machete? Who is watching the productivity and efficiency of our labor pool? Why do we even have civil servants doing this? It could be contracted out to one or more of dozens of landscape companies, it would be done better and probably for less money than we spend having 3 people watch 2 people work. Why does every department have its own financial department? Why does the Cayman Islands Government employ over 5% of our population? Why do we have such a large National roads authority? We have 2 very capable companies that can pave and maintain the roads in a much more efficient manner than the NRA.
The government sould only be involved in things that the private sector shouldn’t, can’t or won’t. Keep in mind, the government does ABSOLUTELY NOTHING efficiently! NOTHING!
Shrink the government, lessen the amount needed to fund redundent and inefficient positions, lessen the burden on the private sector, allowing the private sector grow, and inturn fund the needs of the people through small more efficient effective government. It is pretty easy actually.
Is this man reall serious?
Others must pay for his mistakes and mismanagement?
Man, go fly a kite star!
Boss man, I agree smaller government, but before anything else, we have to "cut" expenditures. Shrinking is not going to cut the expenditures we have now! We have to make revenue.
Keep up the excellent posts. We desparately need people with common sense pointing out the reality around us.
Unlike in many western nations, there is no social cushions in our tax free state. There is no unemployment insurance for the hoards of unemployable that are retained by government – the number one employer in the country.
Each of those obvious superfluous bodies in Gov’t have local mortgages and car loans that they would default on, and terrible social and systemic consequences would surely follow if they were cut outright.
Rather than terminate those individuals, Gov’t might do better to scale back non-essential staff to a 4 day work week. Those workers will get an extra-long weekend, gov’t will spend less, and same amount of work will get done.
Well that in itself is a BIG issue. We have put a piss poor bandage on a real problem. We report next to no unemployment, yet you stated (which I believe) that we (the government) are employing those who would possibly be unemployed. Those people as you stated have loans. It would only be logical to assume that if they were not imployed they would not have gotten the loans. Correct? So by employing them we are perpetuating the problem. Maybe they sould not have loans, maybe they need to recieve help in advancing their knowledge base hence making them more attractive in the private sector, and once they are gainfully employed on their own credits, then they could make the financial moves that suit their lives.
Basically stop giving them fish, show them how to fish. We need to stop the enabling! empowerment hurts at first, but is extremely effective and rewarding to all parties who see the process through.
I stopped and spoke to the guys cutting the grass. They were all Caymanians. It was hot and dirty and the traffic was frightening. A local business man would get it done cheaper by employing expat "slave" labour. But the money goes into his pocket alone, not to the five Caymanian families that he wants to put out of work.
Did you ask them why it took 5 or 6 men to do 2 mens job? What makes them any different than those who work on dangerous construction sites or other dangerious areas? Are you suggesting that the lack of efficiency is excusable because they are Caymanian and souldn’t have to work effectively in a hot, dirty and frightening enviroment, that they just so happened to be hired for in the first place?
The attitude you have is exactly what the problem is with Cayman. Why is it that expats can do it faster cheaper and better? As a Caymanian I hate to hear the suggestion that a forgiener can do something better than I can. It has been one of the movitators for my life, I have risen to the challange and bettered myself to the point of confidance that I am one of the best in my field, no matter where the competition comes from, period! Caymanians need to stand up and show that we work harder, longer and better than any person that has hit our shores. We need to be the ones that employers want to hire, not because they have to "as per the labor law" rather because of your work ethic. If we had that kind of attitude, the Caymanian owner of the private landscape company would hire Caymanians because they out work the "slave" labor and are worth the extra money.
We need to stop enabling and empower our citizens. We are sparing the rod and spoiling the child!
Once again BIG MAC show us that unless you are praising his "efforts" youare sturring the pot! He makes it sound like he didn’t know what he was getting into when he ran for election, He damn well knew the state of affairs, and he simply can’t stand the pressure of not being a hero. There are many other options to gas, or property tax. We all know this, he simply can not admit when he is wrong. His ego is to big for that. The man has a serious problem and I pray to God that all of Cayman will scream at the top of their lungs that we can not and will not allow someone of his nature to be involved in the direction of our country in the future.
What a rant what a rave you just as bad as him dude! offer up somting constructive nah! boy if d people do as you suggest waht a pileof sore throats get real.
I have and am offering suggestions. In other posts I have stated that if there was a willingness for me to run for office, I would. I have suggested alternate avenues of revenue, and I have also suggested shrinking government, amongst other things. What are you doing, may I ask?
In asking big business to take the hit, Mac it doing one of two things:
(1) revealing his utter ignorance of all things "business"; or
(2) revealing his utter contempt for the intelligence of the Caymanian voter.
Get real Mr. Premier.
mckeeva you are all for yourself and anytime we the people say anything you block us out " thats not going to kill you" is your favourite words . but thats just it, it is killing us . don’t worry mac as the old caymanian saying goes " every dog has his day " today for us tomorrow for you . remember the higher you are the harder you fall .
I have to agree with you.
Is this man real????!!!!
If gambling was legal here, I would bet a few dollars that tomorrow Mac tells the Speaker "No, you shut up!"
Or he could just tell her that the Protocol Office says she must shut up. lol. The wheels are really starting to come off now.
Sometimes I want to laugh about the possibility of Dr. Lockhart detaining him, but then I remember who will be in charge if that happens.
I wonder if it’s too late to suggest new revenue measures? I was thinking that a new mandatory foot-washing fee of $10 per cruiseship passenger payable on departure might balance the budget and replace the revenue we will lose to Dart once the new pier goes in.
Dr. Lockhart can detain her too. Have you heard some of her crazy comments? Let’s not forget her favorite pastime. washing feet.
Errr…..don’t recall the Speaker of the House washing anybody’s feet??
Ok. try to keep up. Reread the post. The person who would be "in charge" if Mac is locked up is..the Deputy Premier (not the Speaker durrr)…who is Julianna…who…washes feet.
still with me?
cripes.
What a joke. Does this man really think that either CUC or the gas station owners are going to comply with his request? Gimme a break!
If I was them I would, because people really dont care anymore. It is only matter of time to be robbed, besides they will soon have to build more prisons and employ more foreign prison officers.
Good thing you don’t run a company that I have invested money in!
Get real man. If they fail to obey Mac’s orders he will simply blame them for the increase in fuel prices. End of story.
An increase on the vehicle licencing would be a a reasonable charge considering that the charge at present is almost less than .50 cents per day, for most vehicles, that is being charged.
McKeeva states that the alternative to increasing fuel would have been Income or Property tax, I dont know too much about this subject, so anyone out there that would or can enlighten me please do, however the little that i do understand/comprehend this increase of Income & Property would have a devasting effect on the mega rich friends of Mckeeva not the majority of middle class and poor people of our country, but the increase on FUEL which effects just about EVERYTHING we consume ( Supermarket Prices,Gas Stations, CUC, Water Companies, etc) and the majority of Cayman who live here year round, not the Minority of the Mega/Multi Millionares who only visit here a few weeks out of the Year. Here is just an example, a $125,000,000.00 KYD home at 10% property tax =$12,500,000.00 (Twelve Million Five Hundred Thousand dollars) to the GOVT PURSE…thats one millionares house, just one and Govt has collected $12.5 Million dollars x 10 $125,000,000,000.00 (One Hundred & Twenty Five MILLION DOLLARS) look at the zeros!!! and how much is our deficit? all this could and SHOULD HAVE BEEN DONE INSTEAD, but Mckeeva thinks that we Caymanians are and will always be backwards and can be fooled, XXXXX
so a 10% property tax….. idiot!!!!
I can see what you are saying about taxing the rich and not just the poorest in society, but there are virtually no houses anywhere near that size on the island. If there were investing anything like that amount of money in Cayman we shouldn’t be taxing them 10% for doing so, or they will build elsewhere. Don’t fool yourselves for a second that Cayman is that important to these people in the scheme of things.
The government has already been taking foreigners for granted for too long. hence why businsesses are leaving for pastures greener and that is why there is so much real estate for sale and the prices are dropping and people can’t even find tenants to rent out their apartments.
I think maybe we could add 1% p.a. property tax without pushing too many people away, but 10% is ridiculous. Particularly when people have had to pay 5-8% stamp duty when buying it already.
and back on planet earth, there are no houses worth $125m in Cayman? there are hardly any houses worth that on the entire planet? exactly how rich do you think everyone is down here? back to the weed perhaps.
Property tax is not 10% it is more like 1.2 %
Say "Pretty Please" and maybe they’ll say "OK".
For Christ’s sake will someone get Mac "Economics for Dummies".
Mr. Bush honestly do you think before you open your mouth you where the same one to cut people salaries you where the same one who put up on fuel and now you want to tell CUC and the gas stations not to pass it on to us the people of this country after you the one that screwed us first . If you wanted to help us the people of this country you should have figured away instead of what you did but no you had to get on your high horse and big mouth and now want to try and look like you are doing some thing well you did and that was to put us the people of this country further in debit. Thank you
I am not for UDP
But people need to understand that there needs to be an alternative to bringing revenue into the country. If not gasoline hikes, then what would you recommend? All I have been seeing are critical comments against the Premier. It seems like anything he recommends will be automatically criticized.
Already party politics has blind the eyes of so many people. Whatever the Premier recommends is being criticize because he is the Premier and for UDP.And it seems you can’t please these people, much of them on CNS site. It is dishartening on what party politics is doing to this Island. The polirazation on taking sides is growing.
This is just rediculous!
I would rather any day a gasoline tax than an income tax, payroll tax, vat tax, or property tax. If we can’t tax people, then what will you recommend???People let us please be thankful and acknowledge that it is something the government is at least offering to the community that is not so bad!
You can thumbs-down all you want, but I know many support me on this one 🙂
Increase the fee paid by each and every tourist that visits cayman, introduce a lottery, or gambling…
Or here is an idea, stop looking at taxing our people, and start looking at making smaller government.
Good ideas, but smaller government is not going to cut the expense-cake! And lottery can not do it immediately… It will take time for lottery to bring in enough revenue to put down our debt, which has to be brought down before a given time appointed by the FCO.
And I can sympathize with the Nancy on this one. Let us focus more on what is best for this country without part politics
20.40
Nancy it is obvious you, Mac or his economic advisors understand the impact of a gasoline/diesel tax. Get Real!!!
This will not just impact those that pay electricity bill or for gas at the pump but mostly everthing we consume.
Simply! we needto reduce expenditure instead of seeking revenues that are counter productive and cause difficulties to the poor.
Here would be my shopping list:
1) Smaller government –
a) Reverse the decentralisation of HR
b) Centralise anything else that can be
2) Cut Government expenditure
a) Perks of the Office of Premier – In hard times sorry no perks.
b) Uniforming products within CIG to allow bulk purchasing
3) Introducing Structured Gambling
a) Casino licensing restricted to locals
b) Licensing Numbers sellers
c) Global Lottery
It’s not that we are against the Premier as such it’s just that he makes such dumb moves. He fails to do the things he should and he does the things he shouldn’t.
Here’s my case in point.
The CS. Everyone on God’s green earth is telling him that they are spending far too much on the CS but instead of him attacking the ACTUAL problem he would prefer to levy a gas tax to resolve the problem.
My thought is this. Kill your ducks in a row. Deal with the CS, get your other revenue measures up, make other cuts and then at the end if all is well we don’t have to increase taxes.
Nancy all you have to do is look at teh rising crime levels to know we are pushing ourselves over the bring. We are choking out businesses and choking our people to the point where robbing seems now the only alternative. It’s not that some of this crime would not have happened but the fact that so many parents are out working and allowing their kids to mix with bad company. We always blame the parents "BAD PARENTS" but it’s not just them alone it’s the cost of living. They have to work to make ends meet.
So here Bush goes again to raise the cost of living. This can only lead one way.
The next thing we need to do is to stop listening to dumb people who have no place in business and I am talking about the Minister’s Association. Just institute the gabling laws and tell them to go lead their sheep. YOu are so willing to hit us all with gas taxes but you are not equally willing to do some to pump money into the country why??
Anyways I have said enough. Nancy it’s not really about him. If it was Kurt I would attack in the same manner. He just seems to be making mistake after mistake simply because he doesn’t want to address the real issues and that is because he is fighting for a seat come 2012.
Here we have a perfect case of someone who is not willing to think globally.
There are so many ways to make money.
Has anyone thought that there are two other islands available here that could be making money? Our 700 plus caves are hardly tapped into. What about rock climbing, bone fishing, tarpon lake, bird sanctuary. What about promoting electronic security centers?
The problem is that no one will think outside the box because it is easier to brainwash the people… Pure stupidness!!!
Let me be the first to offer some suggestions for new taxes that should raise some income for the country:
1) MLA Breathing tax – 20% of Salary – If you are an MLA and you breathe air you need to pay for the pleasure of breathing our air.
2) Premier Abundance Tax – Additional 10% of Salary to cover the cost of fringe benefits such as CUC, Security, Chef and Housekeeper
3) Idiot Idea Tax – Charged against MLAs who voice stupid ideas – An example would be Changing Pirates Week name to Heritage Day. That should be like 50% of Salary for it’s level of stupidity. This is a level tax based on how stupid the idea is and it would be gauged by the people via CNS.
That’s for fun.
How about rewarding people for good ideas that generates savings and/or profits forCIG @ say 1% of money saved or made? I’m trying to think about motivating people to think outside the box where it benefits them financially also.
LOL on items 1-3 with 200% fines for refusal to pay the the TAX.
on the proposal of incentives for good effective ideas I give you maximum support. The private sector has been doing it for eons.
If it could work on the same principle as Crime Stoppers (with a sliding scale proportionate to the actualized savings) then it might give a sense of fairness to the process because as you know in a "capitalist" environment everyone wants to be paid the maximum for their successful ideas.
Hasn’t he played this sad song before?…This is not the function of CUC!
Opressing the nation again wih talk of rasing light bill and gas at the pumps. Just go right ahead, because if the opression of the people dont cease the robbing will begin again. Why are these business people so greedy. Why dont the government stop doing foolishness.
My two cents in on yhis, neither UDP or PPM knows what the heck to do. They are both playing on the emotions of the people here with their rhetoric. this country needs to have the use of experts on this revenue issue. we are a small country and shouldnt be too proud to ask the people that have experience and knowledge on this to guide us.
We are fooling ourselves if we beleive that we do not need to have some form of taxation, we as the public keep holding out our hands for entitlements from govt entitites, so until we face the music and understand that all of the entitlements that we beleive that we are entitled to are brought under control and govt plan before starting all of these big projects then we will have to have some form of taxation.
Mac, utilise the opinions of thepeople, bring your ideas to the people just like you did when you wanted our votes, do so now, come to the people to ask how they feel about these things, we have a voice too. Other wise 2013 is looking very promising for taking our Island out of the dictators hands.
"this country needs to have the use of experts on this revenue issue".
We did. It is called the Miller-Shaw Report.