style'' for an oversight that required a new piece of legislation to fix.

The legislation, the Miscellaneous Taxes (Hospital Levy Rates Increase) Validation Act 1995 passed in the Upper House after a short debate.

Sen. Lynda Milligan-Whyte UBP introduced the legislation which she said grew out of the Government's decision to increase the basic rate for the Hospital Levy in the 1994/95 budget.

The new increases were meant to apply to all employers and self-employed persons and the Attorney General's chambers were charged with putting them in place.

However the changes affected only those in exempted companies although taxpayers had forked out some $8.7 million dollars which the legislation did not require.

Sen. Milligan-Whyte said the legislation was meant to validate the $8.7 million that the taxpayers had already given Government.

The Government Senator said there was nothing untoward about passing such validating legislation because it was also done in the United Kingdom.

Meantime, Independent Sen. Dr. Norma Astwood said that Government needed to find ways for its tax collection agencies to work together because the "possibility of slippage'' was great.

"The need to validate what the work force already has done shows how much Bermudians are willing to work with the Minister who sits in the place of the toll.'' Sen. Astwood pointed out that the Manpower Survey does not record all the people who are working in Bermuda and there was greater need for vigilance and information sharing in the civil service to ensure that this error never occurs again.

PLP Senator Terry Lister said that the oversight was significant because efficient tax collection is essential to the "health and wealth'' of the Island.

"This is a flawed piece of legislation,'' he said. "How was this discovered? Was it some bright spark in the Attorney General's chambers?'' Sen. Lister suggested that all legislation should be examined ensure that similar oversights were not made.

Moreover, Sen. Lister said it appeared that the necessary legislative support was not operating within the Attorney General's chambers and this may be due to the high turnover rate in the department.

"This is not an attack,'' he continued. "This is just an observation.'' Government Senate leader Sen. Gerald Simons meanwhile, said the legislation was "unfortunate but necessary'' because the error had serious consequences.

While changes at the Attorney General's chambers may have played a role he said, there were other entities that were also at fault.

These included Parliamentarians, some senators and accountants who were responsible for scrutinising the budget and the bill.

Nonetheless, the appropriate section of the bill was not amended due to "honest human error'' and as a consequence it was necessary to pass this act.

Opposition Senate leader Milton Scott said his party had agreed to send the bill back to Parliament because they had some concerns but that decision never got the full support of the Senate.

Furthermore Sen. Scott said the PLP were concerned about the effect of the legislation on individuals involved in collective bargaining over their contracts.

He said in such negotiations the bottom line was a crucial factor. As a result this legislation will have the effect of diminishing workers' purchasing power given that the consumer price index rose some 4.8 per cent over the last two years.

Sen. Scott called on Government to use this opportunity to look at the whole taxation system in Bermuda.

The bill was then passed.