It's a fact of life that no one likes to pay more taxes. And as a general rule, Governments should do what they can to make sure that the tax burden is spread fairly and does not cause disproportionate pain to one segment of the community.

The tax increases in the Budget that seem to have caused the most complaints in the community are the duties levied on cars and boats. To take cars first, it is difficult to complain too much about taxes on cars when the Island is already facing severe congestion and the same vehicles tend to pollute the environment. Unsurprisingly, that has not stopped car dealers from complaining, especially since new car sales have been down for the best part of the year.

Be that as it may, the Government's approach is wrong headed for two reasons. When the tiered level of Customs duty for cars was introduced by then-Finance Minister Dr. David Saul in 1993, the rationale was that luxury cars should attract a higher rate of duty than the average car.

Thus the value of the car to the first $12,000 (out of the factory) would be taxed at 75 percent and the cost of the car over that level would attract a 150 percent rate of duty.

Until this year, those rates have not changed, although the average cost of a car has obviously multiplied. Recognising that, Finance Minister Paula Cox has therefore lowered the rate at which the 150 percent rate can be charged to $10,000, which has the effect of adding $1,500 to the price of any vehicle that costs $12,000 or more at cost.

But that also means that quite normal cars (and not the giant SUVs, contractors' "trucks" that never seem to have carried a load, or fancy sports cars) are affected. It would have been better to have raised the level at which the higher duty rate applies to say, $15,000, while lifting the duty to, say, 200 percent. At the same time, the rate of duty for smaller and more fuel efficient cars could be lowered.

Assuming that people are going to keep buying new cars when they need to, this would deter purchases of large top-end vehicles while encouraging the purchase of smaller, non-luxury cars. This should enable the Ministry to raise the additional revenue it needs while also encouraging people to drive smaller vehicles.

Oddly, while Ms Cox was effectively ending the idea that a BMW is more luxurious than a Subaru J10, she decided to classify all boats as luxury items, by raising the 33.5 percent level of duty for new boats to 50 percent.

Again, the Finance Ministry seems to have grasped the wrong end of the stick. This newspaper has no objections to charging people more tax for boats at the luxury end of the market.

But the owner of a sailing dinghy or a small Boston Whaler should not be penalised in the same way. Nor is a boat of this size a luxury; for many it is a necessity from a mental health point of view. In a small island, there's no better way of getting away from it all than by heading off on the water for a day.

There is a particularly good reason not to tax sailboats at the same rate as motorboats. First, sail power does not harm the environment, and second, this is the area where Bermudian sportsmen and women have had the most success in recent years.

The Optimist programme for young sailors has been a stunning success and, lest the accusation is made that sailing is a white elite sport, it has developed young sailors from all races and walks of life. Why not set separate rates of tax for sailboats and motor vessels, and at the same time, add a luxury rate of duty for vessels that are out of the reach of theman on the street. That would be fair.