The opposition yesterday criticised government’s plan to ease the rise in the cost of living and called for the equitable sharing of the $60b of oil revenues received in 2022 and the abolition of income tax for workers in the low to middle wages brackets.
A statement from the office of the Leader of the Opposition charged that during the worst cost of living crisis in living memory, the PPP/C government repeatedly only budgeted $5 billion dollars for direct cost of living mitigation and relief. This, it said, was less than 1% of the total for two of the largest budgets in the country’s history.
The opposition declared that serious efforts must be made to combat spiralling inflation. These measures, it said, must include:
– The equitable distribution of the $60 billion oil revenue windfall received in 2022.
– The payment to public servants of a livable income that is also well above the rate of inflation.
– The abolition of income tax for workers in the low to middle wages and salaries brackets to increase the disposable income available to both public and private sector employees.
– The provision of two hot meals a day to all school children to reduce the financial difficulties faced by parents.
– Develop a school transportation system to get our children to school free of cost.
“We urge the government to implement them since it will help to significantly improve the lives of average Guyanese. We call on the PPP to put partisan politics aside and adopt them. Inflation, after all, knows no ethnicity, no religion and certainly no political affiliation”, the opposition said.
