St Lucia Labour Party releases election manifesto with wide range of promises

Boosting election campaign, St Lucia Labour Party on Sunday released its election manifesto offering a wide range of poll promises to the people of St Lucia.

2024-07-07 15:27:00

St Lucia Labour Party Election Manifesto

St Lucia: Boosting election campaign, St Lucia Labour Party on Sunday released its election manifesto offering a wide range of poll promises to the people of St Lucia. SLP led by Philip J Pierre promise to stablize the economy to save jobs, businesses and families - re-position St Lucia for growth so that people can look to an extended certain future and restore good and honest governance so that government, guided by democratic principles and the rule of law, works and would not work against people.

"We will not just promise, but explain how we intend to deliver. And more importantly, we want you to know that you can hold us accountable for the promises we make when we say that we are putting you first. I will now share with you, some of the top priorities in our 2021 Manifesto," states the manifesto.

"To stabilize our economy and save jobs, businesses and families, we will provide income tax relief to low and middle-income households. That means persons earning $4,000 a month and less, will not pay income tax. This will put more cash in the hands of nurses, police officers, teachers, secretaries, public servants, hotel workers, technicians, and many others who will not pay tax on their first $48,000 of yearly income."

"This will stimulate consumer spending and generate more economic activity. To ensure that this is fair and sustainable, tax collection will have to be more vigorous, and tax exemptions and allowances will be reviewed and simplified."

"Consistent with this thrust, we will waive property tax on residential property. This will be balanced by an affordable tax on property insurance premiums which is more transparent, more equitable, and more collectible. This will improve disposable income of households, encouraging home-improvement and repair. This in turn will increase property values across communities, improving living standards and accumulating wealth for all."

"We will remove the additional $1.50 Excise Tax on Fuel for Fishermen to redress the injustice they suffered when their very livelihood was heartlessly outlawed. Be assured, that tide has changed."

"We will also revisit existing VAT legislation to ease the tax burden on the Manufacturing Sector. We will specifically support investments related to business recovery, retooling, product development and market diversification."

"We will support the financial restructuring of companies which need to reposition for future growth and diversification. This will be done by suspending stamp duties and similar transaction fees on specific intra-group and inter-company transactions between parent and subsidiary companies with the same ownership."

"We will provide $25 million in guarantees to support working capital loans to small and medium-sized enterprises. This will assist with wages, debt, business recovery and expansion. We will be engaging banks and cooperatives to help design this program.

We will provide Export Grants to help small and medium enterprises, cooperatives and registered business clusters, to meet export standards and similar international trade requirements."

The election manifesto further added that, "Most importantly, to ensure that all eligible citizens can access these benefits, we will eliminate political interference in the granting of incentives by establishing objective criteria for eligibility and approval."

Click here to see the whole manifesto

Monika Walker

Monika Walker is a senior journalist specializing in regional and international politics, offering in-depth analysis on governance, diplomacy, and key global developments. With a degree in International Journalism, she is dedicated to amplifying underrepresented voices through factual reporting. She also covers world news across every genre, providing readers with balanced and timely insights that connect the Caribbean to global conversations.