Senator Ezekiel Bazil has expressed concerns over the fact that Dominica has not conducted a population census in more than 20 years. Bazil said this situation has made it impossible for the government to accurately determine the number of people in the country, and to plan accordingly for their welfare.
The senator made it clear that government activities such as healthcare, education, transportation, housing, and economic projections among others are dependent on accurate population figures. He said the government uses census data to plan and executive national policies, and there is no way this can be done perfectly without an accurate population figure to work with.
Bazil wondered how the DLP administration has been planning and implementing key policies for the past 20 years without an updated census data to work with in Dominica.
In a related development, Education and Human Resource Minister, Octavia Alfred, said the government is removing income tax on houses rented by individuals for residential purposes in the country. She said this will take effect from the Income Tax Year 2021.
Honourable Alfred said the two new allowance income tax deductions will commence in 2022 and these will be for insured individual homes and family health insurance schemes. She said a maximum of $8,000 will be deducted for premiums paid for individual homes and family health premiums.
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