FORGET VAT MR. ROBERTS AND TELL GOVERNMENT TO OBTAIN ADDITIONAL REVENUE THEY NEED BY: (1) Aggressively pursuing real property tax arrears on all properties with a current value in excess of $1 million; (2) confiscating the assets (proceeds of crime) of all the known numbers' bosses like Craig Flowers; (3) introducing a National Lottery to help fund a large portion of our public education system; (4) clamping down on the enormously costly corrupt leakages in our current system of customs duties; (5) discontinuing the grant of concessions to foreign investors which are not contingent on or tied in some reliably measurable way to the value of the expected benefits to be derived by the country as a whole; (6) doing away with the corrupt practice of government leasing property from political business cronies at outrageous rents rather than fixing up and properly maintaining existing government owned properties; (7) shutting down Bahamasair and BCB; (8) privatizing BEC with a maximum 10-15 year limited monopoly period tied in some meaningful way to an obligation to generate affordable electricity for all consumers on the 8 most populated of our islands; (9) privatizing of W&S Corp. with a maximum 10-15 year limited monopoly period once again tied in some meaningful way to an obligation to provide affordable potable water for all consumers on the 8 most populated of our islands; (10) doing everything possible in concert with the U.S. government to reduce the number of illegal immigrants that our suffocating our country today; (11) revisiting the overly generous "cost plus 10%" concession and 20+ year monopoly granted to the Arawak Cay Port Development owners of the Nassau Container Port facility which are wreaking inflationary havoc on food and everything else imported to our country; (12) doubling the existing taxation of all tobacco, liquor, wine and beer products which are responsible for a very large component of our country's healthcare costs today; (13) stopping the grossly abused free gas allowance that many senior civil servants and their family members currently enjoy; (14) ending the policy of buying anything but economy automobiles for the most senior civil servants, members of parliament, senators, judiciary members and the police; (15) down-sizing our grossly bloated public sector payroll by sacking non-productive workers who do nothing but peddle political patronage; and so on and so on.

ROBERTS SHOULD JUST SAY NO TO VAT, PERIOD! If it makes him feel any better, he can start pushing for a very progressive income tax or wealth tax that will leave at least 85% of the already severely impoverished in our struggling country unscathed. The last thing we need is a horribly regressive VAT without a much more diversified progressive tax structure. Besides, the current government's fiscal track record is such that we know the revenues from a VAT will only be used by them as fuel for bigger government and more pay to useless consultants. Revenue needed by Government must be obtained by doing the types of things suggested in my previous post above. WE SIMPLY NEED TO STAMP OUT AS MUCH CORRUPTION AS POSSIBLE WHILE SIMULTANEOUSLY PUTTING IN PLACE SENSIBLE ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL POLICIES FOR THE LONG-TERM AS OPPOSED TO THE SHORT-SIGHTED ONES WE HAVE TODAY THAT CHANGE WITH EACH AND EVERY CHANGE IN GOVERNMENT. At some point within the next 5-7 years we will need to introduce a highly progressive system of income tax for all residents of the Bahamas and business activities within the Bahamas in order to properly diversify the tax base of our economy (we should be planning for this now as it will be necessary whether we like it or not). TAKE YOUR BLINDERS OFF MR. ROBERTS AND TELL GOVERNMENT GET WITH THE RIGHT PROGRAMS FOR KEEPING OUR COUNTRY FISCALLY AFLOAT OVER THE NEXT SEVERAL YEARS!

The Government wants VAT hidden, just like Duty, so the average Bahamian cannot see it is their Government raising prices!
Lack of transparency and awareness of just how much our Government costs us is the one thing Government has always hidden behind.
Jan 1st is already a joke, but the Government jokes are becoming more costly.

Speaking of Customs they moved their main customs duty collection and entry cheking operations from the government owned headquarters to rented space on Arawak Cay. While a substation may be needed on the Cay to make clearance of goods easier, one must question the wisdom of Customs moving all of its back office to rented space.

Before you suggest shutting down Bahamasair you need to visit some of the far flung islands. The only major activity on those islands is when Bair lands or when the mail boat visits.

Thr taxes on tobbacco products was doubled last year. The price of cigarettes jumped from $4.50 to almost $10.00 a pack. Most people have switched from smoking regular cigs to smoking bedes. These marijuana looking cigs went from $1.00 a pack to between $2.00 and $3.00 a pack. Before government doubled the taxes on tobbacco products last year, they claim they were collecting less than 40% customs duties. Someone (smugglers) is making some serious money. If they increase the duty any more people will go from smoking bedes to smoking weed, which is still duty free!

If you visit the Northern Bahamas Abaco Berry Islands, Bimini and Grand Bahama, most of the alcholic beverages are from the USA. Many persons who operate businesses on these islands have access to speed boats where they go to Florida and purchase the goods they sell. In most instances the Customs duties are not paid on these items. So to increase customs duties will only put more of the tax burden and hardship on people in the Central and Southern Bahamas, while those in the North will continue to pay little or no duty.

VAT in The Bahamas is a JOKE......................... income tax is the way to go. 30% for millionnaires, 20% for over 250,000 and 10% over 50,000, 5% over 20,000. No tax under 20,000 personal income. And collect the taxes that are on the book. Get rid of customs duty.

When you look at the $500 million in property taxes owing to government you must remember that at least half of that ($250 million is accumulated intrerest) and the other is taxes accumulated over a period of up to 20 years. Many of the properties may be delapidated and not have the value on which property taxes are being assessed. If government is serious about tax reform or collecting property taxes consistently, it must provide a means for seriously delinquent property owners to regularise their accounts. What they are doing now is attaching the tax bill to the business licence and forcing the property owner to sign an agreement that, in many instances, he cannot afford to pay. So after the first year or two he will not apply for a business license. So now government will be out of two sets of taxes. Then after they move to shut these businesses down or seize the properties there will be a whole lot of Bahamians living on the sidewalk. The government helped to create the property tax delimma now it must shoulder its share of the burden. The good about that is that governments on both sides are equally at fault.

Tax reform cannot be putting more taxes on the same set of people.The tax burden must be more widely distributed, new sources of taxes must be generated and government must operate within the constraints of its budget. Constant and excessive borrowing must cease to be the order of the day and government must ensure it gets value for dollars when spending the tax payer's money.