Bermuda’s debt mountain is addressed in the Budget Statement as Bob Richards, the Minister of Finance, introduces increases in payroll tax, government fees and excise taxes on fuel, alcohol and tobacco.

Payroll tax increases to 15.5 per cent, with the employee share up by half a per cent to 5.5 — while the duty on fuel increases by eight cents a litre, and government fees go up by four per cent.

Residents will also face a new five per cent “general services tax” from April 2017, with details to come later.

The limit of taxable wages for the payroll tax will remain at $750,000. Payroll concessions for the hospitality, restaurant and retail sectors will be reduced in 2016-17, with businesses in those sectors paying a rate of eight per cent.

The yield from payroll tax following the revised rate structure and partial rollback for payroll tax concessions is estimated at $390 million in 2016-17.

Mr Richards says that the entire payroll tax system will be overhauled for the next financial year and structured in a more progressive way to benefit lower income earners.

The yield from sin taxes – applied to alcohol and tobacco – will generate an extra $4 million a year.

Regarding the introduction of a general services tax, Mr Richards says: “In order to broaden the tax base, GST will be levied on turnover from the provision of most services by service providers to the public.”

The new tax is expected to raise $50 million a year. Mr Richards says that the new tax will exclude banking, insurance and healthcare, as well as small service providers.

The measures are intended to cut into the country’s $2.2 billion debt.

“Nobody likes tax increases: not the Ministry of Finance, not the rest of the Government, not the business community, not the man in the street,” Mr Richards says.

“Some of the measures outlined in this Budget statement will not be popular. But debt service has become the second-largest ‘ministry’ in Government.

“It is stealing from the future of our children and their children.

“It is constricting our ability to respond to people’s needs. It is weakening our ability to maintain the infrastructure that supports everyday life.

“It is threatening our solvency and, with that, our financial independence. So we must get to grips with the deficit and debt problem because they stand between us and a secure future.”

February 1: A petition against the creation of a new parking lot near the Shelly Bay playground collects about 1,000 signatures.

February 1: Campaigners fighting to stop construction of a maintenance yard in Botanical Gardens deliver a petition with 3,750 signatures to the Bermuda Government.

February 2: PLP MPs Wayne Furbert and Walton Brown have their posts on the Boundaries Commission revoked at the behest of their party leader, Marc Bean. Michael Scott and Jamahl Simmons are nominated in their place.

February 4: Diallo Rabain of the Progressive Labour Party wins the Devonshire North Central by-election, beating Andrew Simons of the One Bermuda Alliance by 461 votes to 351.

February 5: Government proposes changes to immigration policy, including new pathways to permanent residency after 15 years and Bermudian status after 20 years.

February 6: Shots are fired over the southern wall of the Bermuda Athletic Association Field after a football match between Ireland Rangers and BAA.

February 8: Gilbert Institute, and Prospect, St David’s and Heron Bay primary schools are listed in Government’s Score report as candidates for closure. The report outlines potential school mergers. Government sets up meetings with parents to discuss the report. Rallies are held in support of keeping the schools open.

February 9: Demonstrators for and against same-sex marriage and civil unions fill the grounds of Cabinet.

February 11: Visitor arrivals for 2015 increase by 2.4 per cent.

February 12: An amendment to the Matrimonial Causes Amendment Act is tabled in the House of Assembly that would have the effect of outlawing same-sex marriage. In addition, PLP MP Wayne Furbert proposes a Bill to amend the existing Human Rights Act with a clause defining marriage as restricted to opposite-sex couples.

February 12: A small group of protesters chant their opposition to immigration reform as the House of Assembly reopens.

February 13: Some $728,000 has been spent on the North Shore roundabout, and the final cost is expected to be nearly $1 million.

February 14: Government spending on the America’s Cup totaled more than $14 million at the end of 2015.

February 15: Exposed live electrical wires, rodents climbing into classrooms, discarded condoms and unsafe play structures are among the health and safety failings in the school reorganisation (Score) report.

February 15: Seniors advocacy group Age Concern calls for an inquiry to address how supermarkets reach their price points.

February 16: Lawyer Kim Wilkerson is the Progressive Labour Party’s replacement in the Senate for new MP Diallo Rabain. Marc Daniels becomes Opposition Leader in the Senate.

February 16: A government-appointed administrator starts at Summerhaven Residential House for the physically challenged.

February 17: Chanting protesters shut down a public information session called to discuss changes to immigration policy.

February 17: The Vasco de Gama Club and Portuguese Cultural Association express support for Government’s proposed new pathways to Bermudian status.

February 20: Daisy the loggerhead turtle is eating 20 squid daily as her recovery continues.

February 22: Bermudian nurse Rebecca Madeiros is hailed as a hero after tending to a teenage shooting victim in a Florida hotel.

February 22: Former Bermuda police officer Emmerson Donald is in line to receive more than $4 million in damages after being exposed to toxic mould at Hamilton and Somerset police stations.

February 24: Sir Anthony Evans is to chair the Commission of Inquiry into how taxpayers’ money was handled under the former Progressive Labour Party administration. Also named to the Commission are former MP and lawyer John Barritt, businessman Kumi Bradshaw and businesswoman Fiona Luck.

February 25: Guest worker Randy Santelices, 31, dies after losing control of his motorcycle and crashing into The Birdcage on Front Street in the early morning hours.

February 25: Protesters demonstrating against proposed new immigration initiatives pack Parliament Street.

February 26: Kijon Baker, 31, is sentenced to 25 years in prison for serious sexual assault, and eight years for aggravated burglary, to run concurrently.

February 26: The Louis Vuitton America’s Cup World Series event generated an estimated $8.6 million in economic activity.

February 27: Lieutenant-Colonel David Curley takes over as commanding officer of the Royal Bermuda Regiment.

February 29: Motorcyclist Ezariah Matthie, 21, of Warwick dies after his bike collides with a truck at the junction of Harvey Road and Ord Road in Paget.

February 29: Legislation to allow same-sex civil unions is tabled in the House of Assembly by Government, which also announces that a referendum will be held to decide the issue of same-sex marriage. The ‘Bermuda Bred’ ruling comes into effect.