Members
Parliament
Transparency

Susan E. Jackson

2618
Speeches
367,060
Words Spoken
165
Sittings Active
29 Nov 2024 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report - House Of Assembly
86 words
This is an entrepreneurial opportunity for many, many people in Bermuda. And no one is doing anything to nurture it. They have been ne-glected. And, Mr. Speaker, this is the one place where a human being, a Bermudian, can get behind the wheel of a car and have some dignity and have entrepreneurial independent ownership. And we have done nothing …
29 Nov 2024 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report - House Of Assembly
38 words
—and were more than happy to say that they had sent their children to private schools. That they had houses, apartments. Living well. This was a major . . . you could make your own money. [Inaudible interjections]
29 Nov 2024 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report - House Of Assembly
75 words
And none of that exists like it did from yesterday today. None of it. There are taxi drivers out there, required by law to drive their taxi for 16 hours. Sixteen hours a day! They cannot take a break. They are supposed to take a 24- hour break once a week. They cannot take that break because they have to …
29 Nov 2024 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report - House Of Assembly
28 words
And there is so much neglect from this Government as far as organising, setting policy, being actively involved — Hon. E. David Burt: Point of order, Mr. Speaker.
29 Nov 2024 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report - House Of Assembly
16 words
If it looks like a duck and it quacks like a duck, it is a duck.
29 Nov 2024 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report - House Of Assembly
7 words
Accepted. Accepted. [Inaudible interjections and laughter ]
29 Nov 2024 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report - House Of Assembly
35 words
Mr. Speaker, the vehicle must be on the road for 16 hours, but we are not necessarily enforcing or supervising or checking in on who is driving the vehicle for the 16 hours. [Inaudible interjections]
29 Nov 2024 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report - House Of Assembly
16 words
I will leave it at that. But it brings me to another thought, Mr. Speaker —
29 Nov 2024 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report - House Of Assembly
5 words
If a vehicle— [Inaudible interjections]
29 Nov 2024 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report - House Of Assembly
191 words
If a vehicle is on the road, mandatory for 16 hours a day, I am going to use that as my starting point. Where is the data? Where is the Transport Ministry collecting the data so that they know when a taxi is on the road, who is driving it, how many hours it has been driven? Because, Mr. Speaker, …
29 Nov 2024 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report - House Of Assembly
29 words
So, we have got . . . I do not even know what dispatch we have because I am not quite sure how to define Hitch . [Inaudible interjections]
29 Nov 2024 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report - House Of Assembly
45 words
I don’t know. And then we have got Bermuda Island and they submit their reports with their data after they are asked, but not proactively because nobody is doing anything with that data. So, Mr. Speaker, my questions to the Minister are this. [Inaudible interjections]
29 Nov 2024 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report - House Of Assembly
8 words
I wrote some of them down. [Inaudible interjections]
29 Nov 2024 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report - House Of Assembly
61 words
Mr. Speaker, this is all about the data. We all are asking, I am asking, why are we still having this payroll tax, just like a lump sum of the $1,000 reduced to $600? And to me the introduction of the minibus tax is just offsetting the taxi. So there really is not any loss to Government whatsoever — [Inaudible …
29 Nov 2024 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report - House Of Assembly
82 words
—but the minibuses now have to pay a tax in order to complement or supplement or tally up, so the Government still gets their money but now it is shared between the taxi operators and the minibus operators. So, that to me sounds a little, I mean . . . I will leave it at that. Regarding data, we would …
29 Nov 2024 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report - House Of Assembly
9 words
Yes, the screen freeze . . . not— [Laughter]
29 Nov 2024 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report - House Of Assembly
217 words
We would also like to know whether the Government is collecting the dispatch data, the six -month data, and where that data is being kept and how it is being formulated to help figure out the payroll tax. Does the Government base tax on taxi by miles, hours driven, amounts earned? Whatever happens to the data that is supposed to …
29 Nov 2024 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report - House Of Assembly
20 words
You know what? I am going to . . . can I leave it there and come back after lunch?
29 Nov 2024 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report - House Of Assembly
5 words
Yes, thank you. [Inaudible interjections]
29 Nov 2024 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report - House Of Assembly
174 words
Thank you, Mr. Speaker . I just have a few questions before we go into Committee. I would like to ask the Minister, How is the Government , the Ministry of Transport, actually calculating a payroll tax on a vehicle? Is it that you are looking at the miles that the car has been driven? Are you looking at the …