For Immediate Release

September 7th 2010

Contact 622-1625 Ext. 2127

PRE - BUDGET STATEMENT

by
The HONOURABLE PRIME MINISTER
KAMLA PERSAD-BISSESSAR

The Opposition Leader the Honourable Dr. Keith Rowley unfortunately appears
intent on spending his very limited resources on trying to distort everything this
Government and especially its Prime Minister say and do.

That is a great pity. I have regarded Dr. Rowley as being an Honourable person,
given the successful battle he waged on behalf of integrity against those in his own Party.
But I would wish to remind the good doctor that an Opposition must serve primarily the
interests of all of Trinidad and Tobago, to keep the entire Government in balance, not try
to unbalance the ruling political parties.

I wish to give the people of Trinidad and Tobago the absolute assurance that there
has never been, and will never be on my watch, any instance of attempting to ‘fool’
people. The era for that has ended, and the citizens of this country showed their clear
agreement with that when they placed their faith in our integrity on 24th May.

When I referred to elements of the upcoming Budget, with respect to what is

intended for property taxes, I was straightforward and specific in my statement:
- the property tax as planned by the previous administration
will not be proposed by us
- we will repeal it
- we will revert to the method of taxing lands and buildings as obtained
before the
PNM’s intended change
- those detailed calculations we will present during the budget debate
- we will give taxpayers a moratorium so that they will not have to pay
in 2010

It is therefore downright pointlessly childish for Dr Rowley to obfuscate my

statements, and then attempt to play games of ‘gotcha!’. He seems intent to trying this
misdirection with every step the Government takes, when we are the ones clearly exerting
all humanly available energy to walk on the straight and noble path of serving the people
properly. It is Dr Rowley who is making as if he doesn’t understand what I am saying,
then shamelessly seeking to lay blame elsewhere. That seems to be his case of ‘playing
smart with foolishness’.
 The details of our political principles, administrative policies, and fiscal plans
will be presented first in our Budget Speech of Wednesday 8th, further spelt out in
our supporting Budget Documents laid in the House, then fully ventilated and
elaborated upon in our ensuring Budget Debate over the next days and likely
weeks. Additionally, we will go to the Nation through all practical channels of
communications and community, to provide more explanations, take comments and
questions, give answers, allay concerns, listen and learn, wholeheartedly and
transparently submitting ourselves to share in the Dialogue of Democracy, an
approach which I have espoused throughout my public life and which my
Administration has now fully embraced.

We ask for the Nation’s patience and participation as we go through this exercise
of getting our financials right. I understand anticipation and anxiety, even on the part of
some of our own team-members. But we invite those who are genuinely civic-minded
and committed to Trinidad and Tobago, to lay down the weapons of distraction, and take
up the tools of construction, to band together in the task of Nation-building for which we
are all responsible.

Garvin Nicholas
Press Secretary