Opposition questions government’s lack of revenue-raising measures

Opposition Leader Myron Walwyn has criticised the 2026 budget, arguing that it contains no clear or memorable measures to raise government revenue, despite what he described as a widening fiscal gap.

Speaking during the budget debate in the House of Assembly, Walwyn said the territory was facing a deficit while spending continued to rise, and he warned that the government was relying on existing funds rather than introducing new revenue sources.

He pointed to figures in the draft estimates showing recurrent revenue of about $447 million against recurrent expenditure of roughly $454 million.

“We are running a deficit of $14 million in 2026, year on year,” Walwyn said. He told the House that the situation meant the government was spending more than it earned and drawing on reserves to close the gap.

Walwyn said this approach was unsustainable without a clear plan to increase income. “We need to get serious about revenue-raising measures,” he stated.  “I didn’t have any revenue-raising measures in the budget. Nothing to talk about, at least, nothing that I remember or nothing that was memorable,” Walwyn said.

The opposition leader linked the absence of new revenue initiatives to what he described as delayed economic planning. He noted that an Economic Advisory Council had only recently been established and said this was too late to influence the 2026 estimates. “If you had done what the Public Finance Management Act said was supposed to be done, you would have had… some good ideas for revenue-raising measures,” he argued.

Walwyn also criticised the lack of an Economic Development Plan, which he said was required under existing legislation. He told the House that without such a plan, the government was reacting rather than planning. “That is why we are doing things the way that we are doing them,” he said.

Using a household example, Walwyn sought to explain the budget position to the public. He said the government was effectively using savings to cover monthly shortfalls, warning that this could not continue indefinitely. “You are spending more than you are making,” he said.

Walwyn maintained that the government now faced a clear choice.

“The government needs to do two things: increase revenue or decrease expenditure, or both,” he told the House. He said cutting spending would be difficult, particularly on recurrent costs, but insisted that new revenue streams had to be identified if future deficits were to be avoided.