 Mr. Speaker, I rise as usual to make a brief intervention to the debate on the Income Tax Amendment Bill. Mr. Speaker, the bill seeks to reduce the requirement for the deduction of tax at source or withholding taxes from the payment of contractors on contracts below $10,000. Section 78 of the Income Tax Act is to be amended to provide this exemption from the deduction. Section 78-1 of the aforementioned act states, as follows, and I quote Mr. Speaker, where any person makes any payment either directly or indirectly through a financial institution to a contractor for the supply of labour or for the hiring of equipment, that person or the financial institution shall, subject to subsection 3, deduct tax from the gross amount of such payment at the rate of 10%, unquote. This proposed amendment, Mr. Speaker, is in keeping with a commitment made by the Prime Minister during the presentation of the budget for the fiscal period 2023-2024. And in this regard, Mr. Speaker, I quote, Mr. Speaker, effective July 1st 2023, there will be no withholding tax on payments on contracts $10,000 and below. This exemption will apply to musicians and other artists in the creative industries. We will enact new legislation and tax regimes to facilitate the development of the creative industries, unquote. This requirement, Mr. Speaker, will allow small contractors whose income is less than $25,000 per annum to pay no taxes, and therefore will remove the requirement to make a claim for a refund from the Inland Revenue Department. I know the member for Shwazel asked the question earlier regarding the number of contracts, but I just wish to add to the discourse that when a contractor gets a $10,000 contract, that does not mean that's income, because they have to expend a portion of that, and sometimes, you know, almost all of it. So we have to focus on what is coming to that contractor in terms of income, whether it's the $1,000 or $2,000. It will also provide greater cash flow to those contractors, giving them the flexibility to better manage their financial affairs, Mr. Speaker. This proposal, Mr. Speaker, must be seen within the wider context of the radical income tax reforms and more broader fiscal reforms being undertaken to reduce income taxes for, in particular, the people who are in the lower income bracket, Mr. Speaker, again consistent with the philosophy and thinking of a caring government, Mr. Speaker. At the end of the day, the security levy, in the context of the massive breaks, the people are better off, Mr. Speaker. They are better off. There was a slogan in Barbados many years ago, an election slogan that says, is the squeeze. And I have always referred to the member for Cass disease and the prime minister and minister for finance as a magician. And I think it was my colleague minister from Babuno who said, you know, where the money coming from? We are still recovering from that massive COVID shock. But yet still, we are able to do things that the former government could not do in the sunshine without those shocks. It is because our emphasis is on the people of this country, Mr. Speaker, make no mistake about it. And the people understand how their lives have been touched. They understand that. But that's one of the show. From January 1st, 2023, Mr. Speaker, the prime minister and minister for finance increased the personal income tax allowance from $18,000 to $25,000. This means that people who earn up to $2,083 monthly will no longer be required to pay taxes. As a result, Mr. Speaker, approximately 15,000 people are no longer required to pay income taxes. The prime minister and minister for finance and member for Cass disease, Mr. Speaker, in this budgetary policy statement, the prime minister and minister for finance granted a hundred percent waiver on penalties, interests and fines for businesses and individuals on the following categories of taxes. If the applicable taxes are paid by May 1st, 2024, hotel accommodation tax pay as you earn, hotel accommodation taxes, all inclusives, order withholding tax and value added tax. Mr. Speaker, our government has also accelerated the payment of refunds. You know, refunds that used to be in the holding pattern indefinitely. They are living the holding pattern. And there is a greater responsiveness to the needs of the people, Mr. Speaker. That you pay, that's right, you pay, and then you're waiting for your refund. But when you owe, it's taken promptly. Mr. Speaker, we are trying to eat, you know, in very difficult circumstances. We are yet to get to pre-COVID levels. And we are regrouping. And we are assisting the overall recovery of the economy so that we can do more for the people of this country. And we're not repairing the economy for people now to come and assume power and squander those monies on Papi Show, you know. We are repairing the economy. We are doing what we can at this juncture. And then in the next term, we are going to do even more because the economy would be in a better condition. Mr. Speaker, the cumulative impact of these policies increases the disposable income of the people and provides some relief to the increase in the cost of living. Let's not forget that. We are creating an improved framework for people to exist in this country, provides some relief to the increase in the cost of living over which we have no control, no control over those things. Mr. Speaker, even when we used to export bananas to the UK, we didn't control the price. They controlled the price. And when their imports are coming to our country, we don't control the price. They control the price. That is because we are small, open and vulnerable economy. The price of fuel going up everywhere, transportation costs, you know, out of control. How can that be our fault? But we have been subsidizing cooking gas and all kinds of things to help cushion the impact of those external shocks on the people of this country. Mr. Speaker, given what all what I have said, I am in full support of the income tax amendment bill, as it is part of the broader fiscal package of relief measures to provide greater support to the people of St. Lucia, Mr. Speaker. We are putting our national house in order to benefit the nationals of our country. Can we do everything in two years? Absolutely not. And I end with the words of the late president of the United States of America, JF Kennedy, who said, and I quote, let us not curse the remaining duck. Let us continue to gather the light, unquote. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.