 మడిక్న మాణింది నిసి కిందేరాచ్తోక్తిందినినిలెందిందియాప్ందిందింరెపిక్తిమిరె఑కుఢితిక్తీమెటండికోకత్టికుందాస్యాదిదిప్� THAT STUTION CALS FOR ALL hours being undec- not the name called Mrs. Speaker and the blaming of everyone. Which National Security Minister could have- can be in the future but Mr. Speaker is very fortunate and I wish because he talks so well and I hope he will get better soon and I ask God to help his family to give them strength as to endure that calamity that event Mr. Speaker Mr. Speaker He just got his PhD, he was a committed fighter and he believed Mr. Speaker in the calls that he fought for. Dr. Seas was passionate about the youth, many of my discussions in the youth economy were held with him, Mr. Speaker. And when he died he was on his way to England where he had to lecture at the youth symposium for Reading University, Mr. Speaker. So, Mr. Speaker, I want to on the behalf of the government, the cabinet, my family and myself, Mr. Speaker, and the residents of Wallrocks Road. That is where we were born, we lived and played our crickets in Wallrocks Road, Mr. Speaker. And Henry Charles was the organizer of a team called the Enchipo Sports Club. I am a member of the FISCACI NOBALE because we normally beat them. So, Mr. Speaker and Henry Charles dream was to return and start revive the Enchipo football team in the form of a youth club, Mr. Speaker. And Henry Charles and I see the members of the FISCACI NOBALE because even though Henry Charles was the ardent supporter of the Labour Party, he was firm, he was committed, he never made enemies. Henry Charles spoke to everybody, he exchanged ideas, but he had his side and you had your side. So, Mr. Speaker, that's him, he excelled in oppositionism and not like what passes for politics now, Mr. Speaker. Not for not, but where it's a scorched-off policy, you just say what you have to say, you just attack people's children, attack their wives, attack everyone, Mr. Speaker, just because you believe in gaining power. So, Mr. Charles made a soul of Henry, made a soul of Henry Charles, Dr. Charles rest in peace and to his wife Margie and his children. I offer them condolences and strength. Mr. Speaker, finally, Mr. Speaker, I want to make a few things policy declare because in spite of all that has been said this afternoon, you will still hear misinformation. It's one of what all has said, all the explanations that have been given, you will still get. So, I want to say a few things, Mr. Speaker, just to put it on the record, Mr. Speaker, and end it, put it on the record, it will not end with Mr. Speaker, just put it on the record. One, the health and security level will be charged at customs. On imported goods, the calculation will be as follows. Cost, customs duty, service charge were applicable. And I just want to tell Mr. Speaker that on all essential goods in the basket, there is no service charge. So, for these goods, there will be no service charge, there is no service charge, there is no levy and there is no vat on all essential goods in the basket. Then, Mr. Speaker, there is the health and security level and then there is the vats. So, that's the calculation. It is not charged after the vats. It is charged before the vats, Mr. Speaker. It is not charged after the vats. It is charged before the vats. That's where it's charged. On services, Mr. Speaker, it is charged like the vats 2.5%. One, number two, there will be no health and security level levy on foodstuffs, medicines, medical supplies, pharmaceuticals. There will be no health and security levy on these items. There will be no vat on these items, Mr. Speaker. Number three, there will be no health and security levy on any items that will vat exempt or that will zero rate for vat purposes. There will be no health and security level on these goods. Number four, there will be no health and security levy on tourism or manufacturing. There will be no health and security levy on tourism or manufacturing. Number five, there will be no health and security levy on gasoline and gasoline products, on gas. There will be no health and security levy on gas. Number six, there will be no health and security levy on the building materials for which we have just removed vats. There will be no health and security levy on these items, galvanized, lumber, plywood and steel. There will be no health and security levy on these items, Mr. Speaker. Number six, there will be no health and security levy on medical supplies. Number six, there will be no health and security levy on the women products that we spoke of, non-pampers or dapples or things of that nature. There will be no health and security levy on things like bed liners and these kind of things used for medical supplies, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, these are the facts as far as health and security levy is concerned. The health and security levy will not be placed in any lock box. There is no lock box. The health and security levy will be placed in a consolidated fund and we will account for it, Mr. Speaker, in the usual process. In the usual process, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, having said so, I want to briefly talk about the use of the woods so plus. As if surplus is a bad wood. Mr. Speaker, it is fascinating how people who know better can say to you, oh, you have a surplus to spend money. I mean, when I heard the leader of the opposition make the point that oh, you have a surplus to spend money. Mr. Speaker, the surplus he is talking about is the current surplus, you know. Mr. Speaker, that surplus is, Mr. Speaker, he is not talking about the deficit that is accumulated, you know, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the country has an overall deficit, not talking about it, but Mr. Speaker, let me take something. Do you know in times past, in times past when the economy used to have surpluses and these surpluses used to be used for reinvestment in capital expenditure. That is how Mr. Speaker, and that is why the boron was so low because there were surpluses to be used in capital expenditure for schools, for hospitals, for roads, etc. So you have to borrow some of the surplus from Mr. Speaker. Those were the good old days. But Mr. Speaker, when you see and speak about oh, you have surplus, I mean Mr. Speaker, the sad thing is that people repeat that. Oh, they say you are doing good, you have surpluses, so reduce gas. You are doing surpluses, so give people money. You do, I mean Mr. Speaker, this is so ridiculous, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, that is what we are trying to do. But given that knowledge, Mr. Speaker, the propaganda keeps on coming, the propaganda keeps on coming, Mr. Speaker. You have surplus, so give money. You have surplus, throw money in the road. Mr. Speaker, 29 million dollars surplus, Mr. Speaker. On his, Mr. Speaker, is just, is good, but we must do much better than that. We must do much better than that, Mr. Speaker. And to do better than that, you have two options. One, you can reduce expenditure and two, you can increase revenue. What, if you look at the estimates, Mr. Speaker, what are the greatest levels of expenditure in this country? Salaries and wages, salaries and wages and loan repayments. So what, what do you want me to do? Sensible citizens home? That's what you want me to do? No. That's what you did? That's what you mean, Mr. Speaker? And negotiations are starting. And I can tell you, in these negotiations, we're going to look for fairness, for equality, because we are a government of the people, Mr. Speaker. But we've gone further. We and I expect to get a report from the minister on the liveable wage, liveable minimum wage. Because this is the core of the government, Mr. Speaker. That's the core of what we stand for. That's what John Charles stood for, Mr. Speaker. That's what he stood for. He stood for promotion of the workers of this country. And when you say workers, they want to tell you all you're only saying about one set of people. That's not true. Workers are workers, doctors are workers, nurses are workers. The same way the people work in the construction workers. And we are workers, although we have no union representatives. So, Mr. Speaker, Mr. Speaker, that's what it's all about. So what you want to do? You have a budget, revenue and expenditure. So you want to have only expenditure, no revenue and all the time you spend it more than you make it. That's the government he wants to run. But right now, we have just a slight surplus. That doesn't even give us enough to reinvest. We still have to borrow 147 million dollars for reinvestment and capital expenditure by rights, a normal surplus. What the international finance institutions tell you is you should have a surplus of at least three to four percent on your current accounts. So you can have something to work with Mr. Speaker. But no, surplus, you have surplus. The same thing is that people repeat that, Mr. Speaker. But our goal this time is we are hoping that we can get the budget in a situation where we can improve on the surplus by the same time create a level of services, create a level of infrastructure development so the country can promote an active advancement, Mr. Speaker. That is our objective. That's what we aim for, Mr. Speaker. So, Mr. Speaker, that is what we are aiming for. So the health and security level, Mr. Speaker, will have to be used to pay back the Cayman City loan. And do you know that we thought that the Cayman City loan, the Cayman City expense was only 11 million dollars. It was not, remember for January, it was 4.6 million US dollars per year multiplied by two years. So Cayman City was 24 million dollars. That's what you paid. That's what you, the listener. That's what the members of parliament. That's what we paid. That's what the taxpayer paid. Twenty-four million dollars, Mr. Speaker. And locals are the ones who made the transition from Victoria Hospital to OKU. The same way, locals are going to be the ones who make the transition from the stadium to Sergio Hospital. So, Mr. Speaker, I want to tell you, Mr. Speaker, that this package of incentives that we've passed in the budget and which we confirmed in the House today, Mr. Speaker, does not include the amnesty, the tax amnesty. The tax amnesty continues until 2024 May. It does not include the, it doesn't include, Mr. Speaker, the tax amnesty on all forms of taxation. In the last budget, it was only on income tax. This year, it's on hotel occupancy tax. It's on PAYE, Mr. Speaker, and it's also on withholding tax and it's on VAX. So, all the gambit of taxes, we have created an amnesty on all these taxes, Mr. Speaker. We are going to be, we are going to, Mr. Speaker, let me tell you the total figure of support that we are going to give the private sector because of that amnesty, Mr. Speaker. In terms of forgetting, forgetting, Mr. Speaker, the taxes that are due, 3169 taxpayers will get an amnesty. The total tax that should be paid, Mr. Speaker, if all things are equal would be $255 million if the taxes are paid. Penalties, because the non-payment of these taxes is $53,795,000. The interest that we are waiving is $289,926 for all these taxes, Mr. Speaker. So, if these taxes were paid, as should be, should have been, we would have collected $255 million with all penalties and interest. And with penalties and interest, we would have collected $599 million. So, what we've saved or what we've removed for the taxpayer, Mr. Speaker, is $289 million plus $53 million. $289 million in penalties and $289 million in interest and $53 million in penalties, Mr. Speaker. And that does not include a raise on income tax that individual taxpayers owe. And you say that this government is not helping the private sector. You say this government is not trying to stimulate economic growth. You say this government is not helping the balance sheet of the private sector, Mr. Speaker. Are you serious? Are you really serious when you say, Mr. Speaker? Which government has ever given such a broad degree of tax breaks to the population, to all sectors of the population, including individuals, including individuals. So, but we still believe that that is going to generate a level of activity in the economy. And from the evidence that we got, Mr. Speaker, that activity is being generated. Mr. Speaker, when they give it an impression that things are bad and gloomy, Mr. Speaker. Although, of course, there are some people facing hardship. Of course, there are some people that the inflation has beat them badly, Mr. Speaker. Because the goals are going up. We know that. We know it, Mr. Speaker. That's why we are increasing our social interventions. That's why we are giving people more help with school books. We are giving more help with educational support. We are giving more help in food vouchers. That's why we are doing that. We understand it, Mr. Speaker. We understand that. And it amplifies with them, Mr. Speaker. And this school program, we are going to see how we can help. That's why we have the housing program. And Mr. Speaker is overseeing it. But how do you say so, Mr. Speaker? I was told that there is an organization instead of Russia. It's a regional organization. And the performance in St. Lucia was the best in the Caribbean and South America. And, Mr. Speaker, I was said by the businessmen in the survey. So, Mr. Speaker, the science of economic activity, the science of the re-engineering of the economy, Mr. Speaker, are there. But, Mr. Speaker, there are two things that we must worry about. Two things. Three things, Mr. Speaker. One of them is climate change. And the Minister of Information and myself had a discussion. I said to him, we have to find the resources for climate mitigation to avoid the flooding that will take place. Because rain is going to fall. Whether we like it or not, it's sad. Rain is going to fall. Who is the speaker? So, I said to him and he had a dream that we have to have mitigation. We have to ensure that we keep the drains clean. And I am appealing to the people of St. Lucia to not throw garbage in the water courses. That is the simple thing you can do. Don't show it to get a contract. Yes, do not show it to get a contract to go and clean it. Please, I'm begging you. Please, I'm begging you. Don't do it. Do not dump mattresses and air-conditioned units and all fridges. Do not do it. It will not affect me. It will not affect the government. It will not affect the government. It affects you when the rain falls in the fallen one man house. Please, have a little bit of discipline. Have a little bit of discipline. Please, climate change. That is why we are doing the giving people incentives for converting from fossil fuels to solar heated solar power to help our national statistics as it regards to carbon footprint, etc. That's why we are doing that. And that's how the government policy is holistic, Mr Speaker. That's the government that thinks. So we're doing that. We're removing that on these things to encourage people to go into solar energy, Mr Speaker. So climate change is the problem. The second problem you have to watch, Mr Speaker, is inflation and supply chain problems. And that inflation, Mr Speaker, is something beyond our control in the region, beyond our control. I was reading somewhere where it said that the cost of poetry field is going to increase, which may lead to shortage of poetry in the world. How can we, how can we, how can we deal with that? That's not our fault. So that's the second point, inflation, Mr Speaker. And that inflation may cause the price, may cause the price of fuel to go up. No control of us, no control of Mrs Speaker. But why should we do that? We are still subsidizing cooking thus up to today, Mr Speaker. So we have to look at inflation and supply chain issues. The issue, Mr Speaker, is productivity. We have to increase our productivity. We have to sharpen our skills, Mr Speaker. We have to increase our productivity. We have to understand that a fair day's work and for a fair day's pay. So our productivity have to increase, have to improve, Mr Speaker. And let me say something about productivity, Mr Speaker. I want to applaud the people at the youth, the young people at St Lucia for embracing with such, with such, we embrace, Mr Speaker, the youth economy concept. How they have embraced Mr Speaker. I want to tell them, Mr Speaker, how they have embraced the youth economy concept, Mr Speaker. The fifth thing you have to watch, Mr Speaker, is citizen security and crime. We have to be very, very weary, Mr Speaker, of the crime situation in the country. And that is why part of the left is going to be used for that, Mr Speaker. So when people applaud just to get at me, just to get at the members of the parliament and try to draw correlation between crime and us. Crime and the government, Mr Speaker. Just for cheap, what you do is you create an environment where you are helping people who are bad intentions to do it. Because you are feeding it, you are making excuses for them. What kinds of excuses? But in the one hand, you attack the social projects, the social programs, you save money, you save jobs for the boys. You save all kinds of things. And in the other hand, you are creating an environment where even saying to people that boy, that crime situation is not helping the government. Instead of working with the government, you are creating the environment by your words to encourage that kind of behavior. So I am saying to the people of Saint Lucia, be vigilant, Mr Speaker. I am saying to the members of the police force, be focused. Because the crime situation, we have to get it under control. All the gains that we are making can be eroded in a split second. One by a hurricane or two by an upsurge of crime, Mr Speaker. So, Mr Speaker, I end by thanking you and thanking you. Remember, Mr Speaker, Mr Speaker. And I want to tell the fishermen of the country, the same way, I made a point. There is no fact, there is no helpful security levy on fertilizer. There is no helpful security levy on fertilizer. None. And we are increasing the rebate for fishermen from $150 to $1. From $150 to $250. And we are also increasing the allowance for the teachers to $1,400. And we are increasing the allowance, the one term, the one time allowance for the pensioners in November by $600. And we have promised them that it is going to be a cost of living adjustment for the pensioners. Mr Speaker, I thank you. And I thank the country for accepting the fact that they must make a small contribution to the health, to the health and security. And also thank the Minister of Health and the staff in the Minister of Health, the members of the Lucha Police Force, the members of the Protective Services for the work that they do in trying conditions, in very trying conditions, very trying. They are police stations that need repairs. They are fast stations that need repairs, Mr Speaker, very trying conditions. Look at the people, how they work at St. Jude, very trying, very trying. But they continue to work for the country, they continue to work in the professions and they continue to make us proud, Mr Speaker. Mr Speaker, I thank you.