I'm happy to see the government looking to help lower the cost of "essentials" but where is the health rationale behind this list of products that are about to be zero-rated for customs duty? Processed cheese slices are notoriously bad for health, as is tomato ketchup. Jam is packed with sugar (with other sugar products taxed at 75%). Why bananas and green beans but not extremely healthy avocados or other fruits and vegetables? Why chicken and turkey but not fresh pork? Why bath soap bars but not hand soap bars, shower gel or shampoo?

Processed cheese and pasta. Instead of "let them eat cake" let them eat mac & cheese !
Trying to buy appeasement from the base,very cheaply, I must say.

back in slavery days the master would give my slave ansetor the oxtails, cow feet, tripe pig tails,chicken feet and intestins to eat after they buthcher .now the new master look like me and givin us peanut butter in jelly an cheaper bread. Burt has got to go this N aint foolin me

What about..
The legislation also offers a zero per cent duty on goods for the local, commercial production of bread and baked goods by approved businesses.

Who are the approved businesses?
Will they have to preorder their flower, butter, sugar, block chocolate and so on or are importers supposed to track all sales to to these approved businesses and request a refund on duties already paid?

Probably the latter. You know that Govt bureaucrats will always opt for the most complicated process. The goal isn't to make things easy and efficient for those in the private sector.

Complicated and bureaucratic is a feature, and not a bug, if you're a member of the bureaucracy.

Between the 2 places that I shop at , one has superior meats and has no imported ground beef . The other place has 2 imported ground beef choices , one pound vacuum packs only , and they run about $2 per pound more than the choice grade locally ground beef and they hardly move any of the stuff. So yeah, what is going to be the benefit of this ?

You can polish a turd all you want, it is still a turd.

Burt has learned from his mentor well. Smooth talking fools the easily fooled everytime.

These people will think that this shiney turd is worth something.

I like the analogy, LOL.

This legislation reducing tariffs on selected items, requires some tweaking in order to achieve its financial aims while it could also offer some health benefits. Why not reduce the tariff on good oils but leave in place pre-existing tariffs on oils containing trans fats. Some vegetable oils are just not healthy, so keep the tariff on them. Jams containing a lot of sugar should come off the list in favor of those with less or no sugar. And what about green leafy vegetables, broccoli, cauliflower, spinach etc. when there is no conflict with local production, if they are not already tariff free. Honey and maple syrup could be on the list as they have a lower glycemic index than white sugar. The law could offset the revenue loss by increasing tariffs on high fructose syrups.

Everyone keeps saying that grocery stores won’t change their prices , which I’m sure most will but what some don’t seem to realize is there is very little savings here. The removal of duty is only on first cost. If a grocery store gets a stick of butter for a dollar from their supplier , the relief of 5 percent means that the stick of butter only becomes 5 cents cheaper. It will not change the markup that the store adds.

We are not just looking at one item. Cross the board families purchase 10-20 of each item every month, in the long run the savings will be considerable, same as the busy discount day but greater. My family alone get through 10 loaves of bread each month, (one item!)
Higher turnover of sales should also lead to a lower markup.

Ten to twenty items per month , since they are all fairly inexpensive items to begin with, would not save you more than probably $30;per month if you’re lucky, the savings is virtually nothing.
So your loaf of bread is $3 first cost , a savings $0.38 per loaf , you are only saving $3.80 on your 10 loaves of bread for the month , virtually nothing.

Way more than $30. But hey! that's
$30 off your Belco bill.

10 loaves of bread a month! Wow I hope it's multi grain.

Yes Crow Lane Multi also. Had toast for breakfast, may have fish sandwiches for lunch. Breakfast tomorrow, Loaf done!

LOL, I can see diabetes and gluten allergies in your future (if not already)!

Won't change the store's overheads either.

Nothing but Burtin BS.

Processed cheese and tomato ketchup "essential" items?

You can't make this nonsense up

Indeed.
Perhaps the loss of duty on ketchup will be covered by the sugar tax on it instead.

where is my light bulb

Perhaps they should be distributed by the Govt Cashiers upon payment of
Land Tax ?. How do we collect our bulb/s ? !!

Crock of crap...

If the government were serious about cutting the cost of living and promoting a healthier lifestyle, they would eliminate the duty on all fresh produce.

The Burt PLP making everything more expensive for us Bermudians!

Where is the money coming from to replace funds lost in all of these payouts & givebacks?

Not a word about cutting Government costs. Not a word about cutting the size of the CS..

What the government has done in the past and sure to do in the near future is to raise all government fees for services , they don’t tell you that but as you need their services you will surely find out fees have risen substantially.

Oh, so the taxpayers are being deceived again. Is that how it works?

Well, yea.... always.

Yup, clearly most love being hoodwinked, so much so it's become a national pastime like fishcakes and kites. JS

We have to give him props where props are due, Burt is pretty good at making BS sound believable. He is very good at speaking with forked tongue, making little tiny tidbits sound impactful when we all know that the list of items included in the recent zero rating will NOT HAVE AN IMPACT OF ANY CONSEQUENCE WHATSOEVER!! Gotta give it to him, the financial update sounded good but hopefully the DELEGATES WILL NOT BE FOOLED for that is all it was, good sound bites. Delegates, please vote for Curtis Dickinson for Premier, Burt cannot lead this sinking ship back to the surface. Do not be fooled!!!

Your candidness and your frankness are noted.

Your ignorance, racism and homophobia are also noted.

We’re actually discussing how 5 percent off a jar of jam will significantly help the COL?

If you want to talk about getting jammed.. If ground had never been broken on the Grand Atlantic lower cost affordable housing initiative, exactly, in actual dollars, how much would have that saved the taxpayers to date?

I would peg that at well north of $70 million.

That much in tax cuts would afford a lot of relief right about now. And that's just the nominal spend and doesn't include the interest paid to borrow those funds over the last 13 years.

And the objective, the only initiative at the time, to mitigate housing costs and add increased rental availability, never happened. The reverse happened simultaneously leaving us with a little south of a tenth of billion in additional debt…

But here we are, with 5 percent off jam.

It never happened because the price of the units was far too high. The cheapest unit, when factoring in the typical costs of home ownership, would have required a household income north of $130K per year.

Is that low income? How many of the people the Govt envisaged helping had household incomes that high?

What was disturbing about the facts of the costing, they were known prior to breaking ground, but this project was green lit and fast tracked. Right until it became time to sell, where it stalled and died.

That's what you get when the people greenlighting the project aren't the ones paying for it.

Reason # 723 why the Govt should stay out of the housing market... and just about all other markets.

When election platform rhetoric becomes reality, with the assistance of persons filling the election chest. That too..

Just shows how discriminatory the existing Customs Duties were to Women on their
essential Products. I notice Rice not considered essential ? What is the duty on toilet
paper? !!

Well it's up to you now MP Dickinson. After this 11th hour sweetheart budget presentation, Burt's Premiership renewal is a done deal.
A fish fry for the delegates should just about do it.
Warm up the limo.

This is just a crumb thrown out to the crowd before the announcement of the next election. The campaigning has begun.

"Ms Wilson will also reply to calls to state how much travellers paid for the TA between April and August this year."
Wait ! Wait ! Isn't she the MP Health ? ISN'T HE THE MP FINANCE ? So, if you are reporting financials ...ummm? Talk about throwing someone under that big pink bus ??
MP Wilson....best you get out of the way......

Electioneering that will not help Bermudians,who are fighting the highest inflation ever.
How about somebody go and buy the 21 items today and then go buy the SAME 21 ITEMS in 2 weeks time and see the difference in price!

Marginal if any change at all cause the grocers can still charge whatever they want.

That is the PROBLEM!
Government can put in place specific initiatives and the grocery store owners DO WHAT THEY WANT.
Then, the populous blame the current government!
Good.
Continue to be vigilant and PAY ATTENTION!!

That's because it's a free market. What you want is communism, but you're far too ignorant to understand that. You're nothing but a filthy racist.

One word (2) - "electioneering ploy"!!

The supposed , beloved OBA, were beastrous!!! Were you on this island then????