IT’S difficult to criticise the 2010 Budget published last week – but I’ll do my best. There was nothing totally unexpected in it and no one can really object to what the Treasury Minister is trying to achieve.

Of course there will be opposition to some of the measures, and anything to do with GST seems bound to raise hackles. However, increasing GST is by far the best option available to the minister if he needs to raise revenue, which he undoubtedly does.

The less well-off will be shielded from the impact of the increase in tax from 3% to 5%, but the Treasury Minister is against exempting any particular items because of the additional costs of administration. However, if the GST rate increases any further, exemptions or different rates should be introduced.

While it’s good to keep things simple, it’s not always fair. The only way to guarantee fairness is to take more tax from luxury goods and keep taxes on essentials low or non-existent. If when GST goes up again it’s still cheaper to increase income support than employ a few more administrators, then there’s something wrong with the system.

A far more serious problem with the 2010 Budget, however, is that it does little to promote economic growth. That’s despite the fact that the Treasury Minister says he’s very keen to send out the right messages. Well, I’m afraid that the message being sent out by this Budget is that economic growth comes well down the list of priorities. That’s a pity, because slightly greater growth than is expected could make a huge difference to the States finances and avoid some of the pain the Council of Ministers say they are so reluctant to dish out.

Ministers say that economic growth is very important and it’s one prong of the three-pronged attack to solve our financial mess. However, not for the first time, actions don’t match the words. This Budget means less effort is going into growing the economy, partly because the COM has become almost obsessed about spending cuts, which is obviously their first prong of attack. This may be just part of a PR exercise to try to placate the bums (the businessmen, ultra-conservatives and millionaires) who think the States spends too much and say that cuts must come before taxes. Of course cuts are necessary, but it’s a waste of time trying to placate the bums, as some of them will never be convinced that the cuts are deep enough.

• Read the full column by Business Brief magazine Peter Body in Thursday’s JEP