The Tribune

By RASHAD ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

rrolle@tribunemedia.net

CENTRAL and South Eleuthera MP Damian Gomez expressed disappointment in Marco City MP Greg Moss during his budget contribution in the House of Assembly yesterday as he urged the outspoken parliamentarian to produce evidence proving that the government’s tax reform strategies are flawed.

A week after Mr Moss shocked observers by resigning as a member of the governing PLP, Mr Gomez also questioned the parliamentarian’s assertion that the party no longer adheres to the philosophical principles advocated by former Prime Minister Sir Lynden Pindling.

He added that Mr Moss was not privy to advice the Cabinet has received on the best course of action to improve the country’s fiscal situation.

“I am disappointed by some of the comments that were made by Marco City in his contribution last Monday,” Mr Gomez said.

“I do not (deny) the member his conscience and the extent to which he is acting on his conscience. But what kind of conscience (is that) if we were to adopt measures which we are advised would be injurious to our economy? What kind of conscience would members of the government have if it were faced with advice that the most effective and efficient way at achieving an objective of fiscal stability, of surplus budget, and retaining our economic buoyancy, we abandoned that advice and charted a course of income tax, knowing that the advice we were adhering (to) is contrary to that being in the benefit of the general public? His conscience must be because he is not privy to that advice (while) ours is checkered by that advice.”

In the past, Mr Moss has criticised the Christie administration for implementing value added tax (VAT), which he said would further burden the poor, and has called for the government to implement income tax instead.

Mr Gomez said: “To the extent that he feels that we have somehow betrayed the legacy of the late Sir Lynden Pindling I can give him and those who are with him this assurance: I didn’t read about Sir Lynden. I personally knew him. He sought me out and we spoke. We met. I became his lawyer. I became, as it were, one of his confidants. And in the 25 years of being the prime minister of this great Parliament never once did Sir Lynden bring to this Parliament a bill to introduce income tax. And he had at times super majorities. He could have done it at one point and do it without any fear that he would be voted out of office. He never did. That in itself tells me that what is being said as being fundamental to Sir Lynden cannot be. I have had the benefit of sitting at the feet of (Arthur D) Hanna…I never heard him say that the Progressive Liberal Party administration should introduce income tax.

“These two men were at the helm of the greatest social and political movement that has ever been seen in this place. They were there to put the ball in the net…they didn’t seek to destroy everything because that would not have been to the benefit of the people they are protecting. It is absolutely possible for those on the left wing of this party to understand that you cannot help the poor if you make them poorer. You cannot help the poor if you take away the ability of government to provide food for children. You cannot help the poor if you make health care inaccessible to them. Every PLP administration from 1967 to the present is charged with the responsibility of ensuring that our economy stays on an even field and we grow it to ensure that we are able to provide steady growth, universal health care and that we are able to provide educational opportunity for as wide array of people as possible. Until you can show that the advice that we have received is somehow flawed, somehow erroneous, it is not good enough to dismiss us as somehow being deficient in leadership abilities.”