Shameless budget: Panday

The consensus on the budget was that it had little to be excited about and many commentators have expressed deep concern over the large deficit. Here's what some people had to say to the Trinidad and Tobago media following the presentation:

"It is the most shameless budget I have ever heard. She (Finance Minister Karen Nunez-Tesheira) regurgitated everything they have been regurgitating for the last seven years and, at the end of it all, you think anybody going to believe they are going to get water next year?" - Opposition Leader Basdeo Panday

"There is one thing that is different in this budget, that is, for the first time in almost over a decade we will be borrowing to finance Government squandermania...so we will be mortgaging, through deficit financing, the future of our children." - Kamla Persad-Bissessar, MP, Siparia.

"There is a lot more pain on the shoulders of the people, especially with the news of increased taxation on property. Many people will be unable to pay their taxes... there is a future risk of loss of properties...There was a lot of fluff in the budget. I think when you go behind the political spin that was put into it, there is a feeling of bankruptcy in terms of the analysis." - Winston Dookeran, former Central Bank governor/Leader, Congress of the People (COP).

Readers' comments from the Trinidad Guardian:

"A lame attempt to get revenue from home owners."

"Are you punishing property owners, Madame Minister? It appears that if we own a home for which we sweated blood to build or acquire, we are being punished for daring to be so naughty? It might have been better to have done some introspection and trim the fat from the government 'beer belly'."