Scores of bar own­ers gath­ered at Wood­ford Square yes­ter­day, just be­fore Par­lia­ment con­vened, ac­cus­ing the Fi­nance Min­is­ter of vic­tim­i­sa­tion over a pro­posed Amuse­ment Gam­ing Tax Bill that they say could crip­ple small and medi­um-sized bars and force wide­spread clo­sures.

More than 30 bar op­er­a­tors as­sem­bled qui­et­ly, as protests are pro­hib­it­ed un­der the cur­rent State of Emer­gency. Speak­ing to Guardian Me­dia af­ter­wards, Bar­keep­ers Own­ers and Op­er­a­tors As­so­ci­a­tion of Trinidad and To­ba­go (BOATT) mem­ber Gu­niss Seecha­ran, said the leg­is­la­tion de­liv­ers yet an­oth­er hit to an in­dus­try al­ready on the brink. He point­ed to clause 20 of the bill, which would raise the gam­ing tax from $6,000 to $25,000 per amuse­ment ma­chine, and in­crease the tax on elec­tron­ic roulette from $120,000 to $200,000 per de­vice.

These hikes, he said, come as op­er­a­tors grap­ple with ris­ing al­co­hol prices, steep in­creas­es in li­cence fees, and high­er land­lord and elec­tric­i­ty costs.