PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC -Opposition Leader Pennelope Beckles has called on the Trinidad and Tobago government to “immediately reconsider and reverse these unjustified” taxes as announced “quietly” on Christmas Day, saying the Government is engaged in a “new policy of bleeding the pockets of the population to obtain revenue to run the country”.
On Christmas Day, the Government announced through legal notices that drivers will pay a 100 percent increase in fines for various traffic offences as of January 1 next year.
In August 2024, while in opposition, Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar had criticised the former Government over the traffic penalties, describing them as too “harsh”, particularly the demerit points system.
In addition, the Government has announced the doubling of several Customs fees, which Finance Minister Davendranath Tancoo had previously announced in the national budget as a measure to raise an additional one billion dollars (One TT dollar = 0.16 cents).
The Government has also amended the Open General Licence for exporters, removing clays, crushed limestone, boulders, sand, gravel, plastering sand, porcellanite, argillite, and oil sand from the list of goods that can be exported without a special permit.
The change will take effect on January 1, 2026, and as a result, exporters will now need a separate licence to ship these materials.
In a statement posted on Facebook, Beckles said that “it is evident that the Prime Minister has both misunderstood the purpose of demerit points and has deliberately chosen to ignore it.
She said that the position advanced by the prime minister in condemning what she describes as ‘subpar intelligence’ and lawlessness among citizens, “is nothing more than a calculated attempt to gaslight the population and divert attention from the Government’s new policy of bleeding the pockets of the population to obtain revenue to run the country.
Beckles said that in the last national budget, the Persad-Bissessar government misled the nation on oil price projections, inflating expectations to US$70 per barrel when global prices now stand at US$56.
“This reckless overstatement has left a gaping revenue shortfall. As a result, the Government has chosen to squeeze the population through excessive taxation, punitive fines, and intimidation,” Beckles said, adding, “these measures are not about public safety or accountability. Instead, they are a desperate revenue-raising exercise designed to keep a failing Government afloat.
“This approach stands in direct contradiction to the promises made to the electorate when this administration sought public support during the 2025 election campaign. In 2024, while in Opposition, Kamla Persad-Bissessar promised the people a reduction in traffic fines. Now in Government, she has done the exact opposite, betraying that promise and burdening citizens even further. It is abundantly clear now that no one is winning.”
Beckles said that families are already struggling in every regard, postponing vehicle repairs until the end of the month, stretching salaries to cover basic needs, and making painful compromises to survive.
“To impose such exorbitant increases in fines under these conditions is a clear indication that this Government and Kamla Persad-Bissessar have no interest in the financial well-being of law-abiding citizens.
“From the secretive manner in which these measures were announced, to the absence of transparency and now to the flimsy, baseless and misleading justification being offered, this policy reflects poor governance and a disregard for the people,” Beckles said, adding that Prime Minister Persad-Bissessar, must “immediately reconsider and reverse these unjustified price hikes and we demand that she comes clean with the nation about the true state of the country’s finances”.
But Prime Minister Persad-Bissessar told the Trinidad Express newspaper on Monday that “all these measures were present firstly in the budget and secondly in the Finance bill” and that the Opposition Leader “should read her parliamentary notes, papers and reports.
“I have no ill will against her, but she is embarrassing herself with her incompetence in parliamentary and legislative matters. She couldn’t even move her own motion in the Parliament,” said Persad-Bissessar.
She said the prominent opposition People’s National Movement (PNM) is intent on “carrying their supporters down the wrong path.
“They seem to harbour no great ambitions for their supporters or citizens. I was shocked when the first thing she spoke of in the budget was the price of rum. Is that what she believes is important to PNM supporters and citizens instead of healthcare, education, security, and sustainable jobs?” she said.
Former prime minister Stuart Young, in a statement posted to his Facebook page, accused the current administration of imposing harsh economic measures while weakening key sectors of the economy.
He said the country was facing a combination of higher taxes and fines, rising food and alcohol prices, job losses, credit downgrades, reduced access to foreign exchange, and higher electricity rates.
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