Bridgetown.
Minister of Finance Chris Sinckler, did not impose any new taxes in his second Budget presentation yesterday afternoon,instead he laid out initiatives to ease the tax burden on exporters as well the country's main foreign exchange earner tourism.
He tightened the noose on income tax delinquents by moving the late filling penalty from $100 to $500 per year, while requiring tax clearance certificates for businesses which wanted to benefit from his tax relief measures.
Sinckler also presented proposals to lower the exposure of businesses and households to rising oild prices by encouraging the solar energy alternatives.
He acceded to the requests from the tourism sector that for hotels and restaurants to be given an extended discount period for the payment of land taxes to the January to March period when the cash flow of these businesses improved.
The cultural industries also got a boost with the provision of a Government backed guarantee to faciltate the burrowing of $80 million to be used for the overseas promotion, marketing and distribution efforts of Barbadian musicians,artists, designers and chefs. 
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