Fuel Increases Driving Price Hikes in Other Commodities

Tracy Panton

On matters related to the economy, area representative Tracy Panton today called on the Briceño administration to immediately lower taxes on fuels. Panton argues that while government cannot control global prices, it has the ability to decrease its tax intake on fuel. Panton reasoned that skyrocketing fuel prices is the main driver of price increases across the local economy. 

Tracy Panton, Area Representative, Albert Division

“Fundamentally, the cost of fuel prices is what is driving the increase of cost in all commodities. It is driving the cost in what is imported. It is driving the cost in what is produced. It is driving the increase in controlled commodities. So, the baseline is, the tax intake in fuel needs to be adjusted until the global price index for fuel is reduced. The government has an obligation and duty and responsibility to take care of the basic needs of its citizens. So, first and foremost, we need to look at reducing and mitigating the impact of fuel cost in this country at this time. And, a second thing, you are right you know brother Chairman, they want us to do the government job. But, the other thing is that the Bureau of Standards, the consumer protection agency on record has to do its job to ensure that the shop keepers and the grocery owners are not gouging at the most difficult times where people’s salaries have been cut by ten percent, where jobs have been lost, where livelihoods have been threatened, where people are still not working. There are families in my constituency where both mother and father has lost their jobs. For those people, the government ought to reinstate the safety net programs to get those families along until we can get back to a place of normalcy.”