Barry Bowen was appointed a PUP senator, supposedly as a reward for being a steadfast supporter and campaign financier for the PUP in 2003. But Bowen resigned last year, just as the government was putting stringent revenue measures in place. At the time, the official story from government was that he was doing it so that he could devote more time to public information campaigns on behalf of his company. But that seemed like a wash and this weekend Bowen told us that to some extent, it was. He discussed that and what he believes is an impending review of contraband and excise tax measures.
Jules Vasquez,
Do you feel that at this point with what has occurred with the excise tax and the layoffs that you have had to make and the shrinkage of your portion of the beverage market, do you find it difficult to support the government that imposed those taxes, the Musa administration?
Barry Bowen, Businessman
"No. I think the government made a mistake and I think the government made a mistake and I think they recognize that they made a mistake. I have had talks with the Prime Minister and he has, obviously he is for is very very busy with these town board elections, but he has promised me that next month, after these town board elections, they will take a good hard look at the situation."
Rt. Hon. Said Musa,
"What I have said is that as I was arguing in the House, I have to be very conscious of the fact that if you push this threshold of the tax too high, it would definitely provide incentives for the contraband and I think that has been proven. We are facing a problem with contraband, particularly of beer and cigarettes and things like that, and so we will have to review the situation."
Jules Vasquez,
But will you review the excise situation?
Rt. Hon. Said Musa,
"I think we have to do a general review in the context of the implementation of the GST, yes."
Jules Vasquez,
Mr. Bowen did you resign as a Senator because you lost confidence or felt you could no longer productively work with the Musa administration?
Barry Bowen,
"No. I resigned as a Senator because we were having more and more and more senator meetings and it was just becoming too time consuming. It really was becoming too time consuming."
Jules Vasquez,
That sounds like a cop-out.
Barry Bowen,
"No it's not a cop-out but there's one thing I did disagree with, that I was angry about, it's this land tax and I did not agree with that and as an appointed senator I should vote on behalf of my government, my party, and I did but I am very very ashamed of it."
