Prime Minister Gaston Browne has pushed back against a campaign pledge by opposition leader Jamale Pringle to eliminate taxes on farming inputs, insisting that such exemptions are already firmly in place.
According to Antigua News Room, Browne made his position clear in a Sunday social media post, stating that a wide range of agricultural items are "already free of all duties and taxes." He listed fertilizer, drip irrigation systems, seeds, farming equipment, tractors, distribution vehicles, chillers, fencing, freezers, and packaging materials among the items currently benefiting from the exemptions.
"All farming inputs… are already free of all duties and taxes," Browne wrote, before closing his post with the pointed remark: "UPP too damn lie."
The prime minister's response came after Pringle made the proposal a centrepiece of the United Progressive Party's campaign launch. There, Pringle pledged that a UPP administration would deliver full support for the agricultural sector by ensuring all inputs and equipment remain tax-free.
"We are giving our farmers full support… totally tax-free in Antigua and Barbuda," Pringle said at the launch. "We will never tax the tools of the people who grow our food."
Pringle framed the commitment as part of a broader effort to lower the cost of living and strengthen domestic food production, arguing that farmers deserve easier and more affordable access to essential tools and supplies.
The exchange has drawn a clear line between the two parties over existing agricultural tax policy. Browne maintains that the relief Pringle is promising is already being delivered by his administration, while Pringle has presented the measure as a necessary and meaningful campaign commitment.
With the April 30 general election approaching, issues of food security, agricultural support, and the broader cost of living are expected to remain prominent themes on the campaign trail.
