And Dr. Gibbons said it was wrong for the Government to take pride in under-estimating revenues year after year and that the island was a more expensive place to live as a result.

"If Government was not so awash with tax money, it might be more accountable on how it spent it," the United Bermuda Party (UBP) leader added.

Dr. Gibbons was responding to Premier Alex Scott's glowing assessment of the state of the Bermuda economy, trumpeted to the assembled media at the Cabinet Office yesterday.

The Premier claimed the economy was "probably one of the best-run in the world" and added that the Government would strive to ensure that economic success trickled down to more Bermudians through its Social Agenda.

But Opposition Leader Grant Gibbons said if Government was really interested in helping ordinary Bermudians, it would relieve them of the some of the unnecessary tax burden they have faced.

"I don't understand how consistently overtaxing people is something for the Government to crow about," Dr. Gibbons said.

In the financial year 2002-03, actual Government revenues exceeded projected figures by $62 million, Dr. Gibbons said. In 2003-04, the figure was $55 million and in 2004-05, the excess is expected to be finally calculated at around $44 million.

Yesterday, the Premier said Government expected revenues for 2005-06 to be just over $800 million ? around $50 million more than planned.

"That means taxpayers have paid out $211 million more than they needed to pay over four years," Dr. Gibbons said yesterday.

"My position is that this is putting an unnecessary tax burden on people and businesses. Government has aggressively increased the tax rate and contributed to making Bermuda a more expensive place to live.

"We're used to hearing everyday conversations about the high cost of living and the stress that comes from that. The point is that taxpayers can find much better uses for their own money ? like savings and paying for college education ? than the Government can."

Finance Minister Paula Cox said after yesterday's press conference that Bermudians were enjoying the fruits of Government's revenue windfall.

"What we are doing is investing in programmes so that the people of Bermuda are benefiting," she said.

And after rattling off some economic statistics, Premier Scott interpreted them as being reflective of a successful Government.

"This is a positive picture, a successful picture, the picture of a Government that is not only managing, but thriving in the global economy," he said.

"That said, however, we continue to recognise that not everyone shares equally in the success of our island. That is the mission of the Social Agenda and the Sustainable Development initiatives.

"There is more work to be done to improve the status of Bermudians in Bermuda and we are committed to that end."

But Dr. Gibbons said the Progressive Labour Party's (PLP) management of the economy had pushed up the cost of living for Bermudians.

"If you go back to 1998, when the PLP came to power, taxpayers and businesses are now paying $100 million more in payroll taxes per year than they were then," Dr. Gibbons said.

Ms Cox has said that the repeated under-estimates of tax revenues have largely been down to the economy performing better than expected. Dr. Gibbons said that was not an adequate explanation.

"After four years of poor forecasting, you would think they would have learned to do a better job," Dr. Gibbons said. "It's not as if the economy has been growing at extraordinary rates during that time.

"If they are saying they are investing in projects that help people, then how have they actually helped people?

"There's been no improvement in the housing situation, we've seen double-digit increases in the cost of HIP and other health coverage. And we've seen a lot of spending in education, but very poor results."

In what he described as a retrospective speech to sum up the Government's work in 2005, Premier Scott summarised the "outstanding" condition of the economy by reading a list of previously published statistics.

Bermudians were now enjoying their highest recorded incomes, he said, and gross domestic product (GDP) was forecast to grow at a rate of between 2.5 and three per cent.

The balance of payments surplus was $106 million for the first nine months of 2005, while the inflation rate had dipped to 2.8 per cent in September from a high of 4.1 per cent in January and the unemployment rate was just 2.1 per cent.

"We anticipate that the continued strength of receipts collected from customs duty, stamp duties and payroll tax and the steady level of fees received from international business will compensate for the reduction in passenger tax and hotel occupancy tax arising from the decline in the number of air visitors," Mr. Scott said.

"As a result the Government expects to revise the revenue target from $750.5 million to just over $800 million for the fiscal year 2005-06."

Premier Scott also said "tourism expenditure" in the first three quarters of 2005 had risen by 1.2 per cent.

Dr. Gibbons pointed out that with inflation factored in, that actually represented a fall in real terms.

And he disputed Premier Scott's claim that there had been 839 new international business registrations in the first nine months of 2005.

The Government's own Department of Statistics Quarterly Bulletin published information showing that there were 742 new exempt company registrations during that period. And this figure was lower than the comparable figure for seven of the last eight years and compared with a peak of 1,292 in 2000.