Latest update January 26th, 2025 8:00 AM
PNC calls for doubling of minimum wage, tax free threshold to be increased to $400,000 monthly
Ahead of Budget 2025…
Kaieteur News- Ahead of this year’s Budget presentation, set for January 17, the People’s National Congress Reform (PNC/R) has cited a suite of measures that should be included in the country’s fiscal plan.
During a press conference on Friday, the Economic Advisor to the Opposition Leader, Elson Low outlined 10 measures that should be incorporated, which he said would help Guyanese to live decent lives.
These include increasing the tax-free threshold to $400,000 a month; hiking public servant minimum wage to $200,000; $20B allocation for cost-of-living mitigation; $3B allocation for the small business bureau; $100B to a rent to own program aiming to construct 10,000 homes a year on already allocated house lots and $200B for the upgrade and maintenance of the electrical grid.
Additionally, the PNC/R said there should be a “job-seekers benefit for the unemployed looking for work, of $40,000 a month.”
Economic Advisor to the Opposition Leader, Elson Low (PNC calls for doubling of minimum wage)
Other initiatives include a $50B allocation to a development bank with a focus on improving the productivity of medium to large-scale enterprises and a governance dividend of $100,000 to every Guyanese adult, along with the development of a modern national data management and cash distribution system.
The party pointed out that 2023, 2024 and 2025 budgets alone are likely to total 15 years’ worth of pre-oil budgets as it presented arguments which will bring about changes to the quality of life for citizens.
Low reasoned, “Our country’s per capita income, adjusting for prices, is set to stand at over US$96,000 by the end of 2025. Fellow Guyanese, do you feel 15 years of progress? Do you feel like you live in a country with a higher per capita GDP, adjusting for prices, than the United Arab Emirates? The answer is clearly no. Guyana hungers for change and we will bring that change this year.”
The PNC argued that this year’s budget must not merely contain empty promises to spend money without clear policy goals. It explained for instance that there should not just be talks about more hospitals without specifying a goal of nurse and doctor to patient ratios or average wait times.
Meanwhile, the Alliance For Change (AFC) also disclosed proposals for this year’s Budget. Leader of the party, Nigel Hughes called for an increase of the tax-free threshold among others.
He said, “The non-oil primary deficit as a share of the non-oil GDP should expand only by the sum of the oil revenues withdrawn from the Natural Resource Fund and foreign borrowing…we should legislate that as a fiscal measure.”
Leader of the Alliance For Change, Nigel Hughes
Meanwhile, he proposed that persons earning $2M or less per annum should pay no income tax, while persons earning between $2M and $10M per annum will pay a 15% income tax. On the other hand, persons earning in excess of $10M per annum should pay 20% income tax.
He said this would ensure that more Guyanese have an increase in disposable income to invest or improve their homes.
Hughes said, “We believe that that will not cause any significant damage to the current fiscal regime and the fiscal regime going forward.”
The AFC Leader said he believes this election year will see a plethora of “wild promises” across the political spectrum, hence the failure to establish a framework could land the country in economic danger. Hughes said the AFC is ready to implement the recommendations it has shared for this year’s Budget.
(PNC calls for doubling of minimum wage, tax free threshold to be increased to $400,000 monthly)
- AFC, budget, minimum wage, PNC, Proposal
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