Tuesday, December 9, 2014

Reforms See Poor Make Tiny Progress


Indeed the 10% poorest households saw their real disposable income increase by only 6.2% for the five years ending in 2012. This compares very unfavourably to the huge progress recorded after the first mandate of Navin Ramgoolam as PM -- Bheenick and Bunwaree (BB) were his Finance Ministers. At that time the weakest households of our country saw their purchasing power increase by a very healthy 48.6% -- that's 7.8X the 2012 increase -- over the levels of the preceding half-decade. 

The reforms have been very good for the 10% wealthiest though: their disposable income has surged by almost 30%. Of course the increased inequality has helped Mauritius clock some of the worst growth rates in more than 35 years: 2014 will be the fourth consecutive year with one under 4%. Which is half what was promised to us in 2005. And the basis for the 15% flat tax.

Happy voting!

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Lol! Why has this not been published in Le Mauricien yet??? This is the kind of facts that we need to have in the public space. It would be a big breath of fresh air compared to what people like Malenn Oodiah writes.

"Sur le front socio-économique vous avez adopté et adapté le projet de réforme novateur de Rama Sithanen même si certaines mesures ne convenaient pas à votre électorat."

Anonymous said...

Des fois mo demande moi si bougre la pas plutot ene anesthesiste. http://www.lemauricien.com/article/l-architecture-economique-du-futur

akagugo said...

How much the State could have recovered without the flat tax...?

Sanjay Jagatsingh said...

If we assume all those people make the minimum in their brackets then it's about Rs1 billion every year. But of course many of them make a few times more than the minimum. So we're probably looking at more. The amount may not appear that much but it adds up (along with breaks in corporate taxes) and the devil is in the way it was financed and how it has upset the economic apple cart.

Sanjay Jagatsingh said...

Isn't it fun that US Presidential elections are next year? It sure is. Some have worked out how much more sense it would make and more money government would take in if the 1 percenters were taxed at more sustainable rates.

Sanjay Jagatsingh said...

Antuka depi 2006 li ti tro okipe fer le kontrer ek tro buku dimunn.

Sanjay Jagatsingh said...

Check the chart in here.