Members
Parliament
Transparency
Dr. Douglas De Couto, JP, MP

Dr. Douglas De Couto, JP, MP

1768
Speeches
616,883
Words Spoken
69
Sittings Active
30 May 2025 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report - House of Assembly
5 words
I have a second supplemental,
30 May 2025 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report - House of Assembly
54 words
And it is probably to clarify my understanding. So, my understanding is that the Government does not know who the material taxpayers for the CIT will be or the amounts that they will pay. Could the Honourable Premier confirm if that is indeed the case or if I am incorrect? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
30 May 2025 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report - House of Assembly
74 words
Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. My third question is, Will the Honourable Premier and Minister of Finance please provide for this Hon-ourable House a description of the criteria and method-ologies to be used to determine how Corporate Income Tax receipts will be allocated between the Tax Reserve Fund and the Co nsolidated Fund, and what role the Corporate Income Tax …
30 May 2025 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report - House of Assembly
118 words
Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Tax Reserve Fund is, in fact, explicitly called out in the Corporate Income Tax legislation. So, the question is . . . we have estimates in the B udget Book of money that will be going into the budget. We clearly must have Corporate Income Tax receipts. So the question is : What policies, …
30 May 2025 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report - House of Assembly
65 words
Thank you. Mr. Speaker, I'm actually going to restate the question because he didn't answer it. What was the criteria and methodology used to arrive at that allocation, which I appreciate the answer is one quarter. We would like to understand how the Government has arrived at one quarter. So, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Hon. E. David Burt: We've arrived …
30 May 2025 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report - House of Assembly
102 words
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And we were grateful for the Statement around the BMA annual report. They are a very important part of our economy and what we do here. And my question is around the staffing. I believe the number was 302 permanent FTEs. We know that, and especially for an agency like the Bermuda Monetary Authority, which requires …
30 May 2025 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report - House of Assembly
7 words
No, thank you, very much, Mr. Speaker.
30 May 2025 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report - House of Assembly
161 words
—where they resurrected one of Bermuda's traditional fitted dinghies and built a programme from scratch, which is a bit of an act of madness if you think about it, and those who observed that programme will know it was a testament to Mr. White's intensity and passion and purpose, and my condolences go out to his whole family, most especially …
30 May 2025 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report - House of Assembly
94 words
—and a bronze medal in the 100-metre and 400- metre events, and as you know, she's a frequent occurrence in these congratulatory sessions, Mr. Speaker. And another person who appears frequently in these sessions is also Mr. Kaden Hopkins, one of Bermuda's international cyclists. He had recently won the Grand Prix Jack Auto race in Guadeloupe, and again, also just …
30 May 2025 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report - House of Assembly
50 words
Good morning, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, and thank you to the Junior Minister for the brief. I know that the Government can get quite anxious to know if we will support a Bill or not, so let me just start off with that, Mr. Speaker. [Inaudible interjections and laughter ]
30 May 2025 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report - House of Assembly
26 words
We will as a whole . . . we do support this. There are some reservations, and let me talk about that, Mr. Speaker. [Inaudible interjections]
30 May 2025 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report - House of Assembly
12 words
As you know, this Bill was tabled on Monday — [Inaudible interjections]
30 May 2025 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report - House of Assembly
264 words
—and I need to say, because, Mr. Speaker, we have a duty as we are MPs, Members, to come in here to have adequately reviewed and assessed and taken a decision for ourselves what we view as to a particular legislation. And I know you appreciate the serious ness of that, Mr. Speaker. And I know that the Standing Orders …
30 May 2025 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report - House of Assembly
60 words
Of course, Mr. Speaker, you can appreciate if we agree to a Bill that says the Schedule is to incorporate the customs tariff, we are there, of course, agreeing to the customs tariff, which I've al-ready stated we are going to agree to. So . . . and I also stated we are grateful for the efforts applied. [Inaudible interjections]
30 May 2025 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report - House of Assembly
36 words
But I hope you can understand, Mr. Speaker, we have to put a qualification. We have not had the time to fully investigate all of the things on the paper in black and white. [Inaudible interjections]
30 May 2025 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report - House of Assembly
273 words
So, we will take the Government's statement at face value and in good faith and in the spirit of collaboration. And we are also grateful for the work, as I mentioned —and I'd like to repeat it for the public servants —to break that information down for us. I also know, Mr. Speaker, that the Premier and his Government have …
30 May 2025 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report - House of Assembly
149 words
The hospital supplies, again, Mr. Speaker, that is an also excellent example of providing targeted relief to an area where we know the costs are becoming prohibitive and burdensome to those in Bermuda. [We] support the other cuts as well. On the duty allowance exemption, to be honest, I wonder if the Government considered perhaps not doing that. We appreciate …
30 May 2025 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report - House of Assembly
22 words
That is a question. That is a question. And yes, those are my questions on that, Mr. Speaker. Thank you very much.
30 May 2025 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report - House of Assembly
5 words
Point of order, Mr. Speaker.
30 May 2025 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report - House of Assembly
118 words
The Premier is misleading the House. In fact, I said perhaps they would additionally consider cutting to zero for targeted things such as con-struction to provide units underneath the rent control threshold. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Hon. E. David Burt: I am so happy that he reiterated that point. I am so happy he reiterated that point because I'm going …