By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

Pricing concerns are being “blown out of proportion” by the Price Control Commission, the Tax Coalition’s chairman yesterday calling on the Government to help Bahamian consumers “protect themselves”.

Gowon Bowe told Tribune Business that he was “extremely concerned” over broad-bush comments by Commission chairman, E. J. Bowe, that implied all businesses had exploited consumers for many years.

He warned that this was stoking tension between the private sector and consumers that could threaten the “bedding in” of Value-Added Tax (VAT), and its acceptance by Bahamian society.

Calling on all sides to be “wise”, Gowon Bowe said the Government and Price Control Commission were essentially doing Bahamian consumers a disservice, and under-estimating them, by assuming they were incapable of protecting themselves against rogue business operators.

Rather than rely on the Commission to constantly act as a “guardian angel”, the Coalition for Responsible Taxation chairman called on the Government to empower Bahamians by providing them with information on the prices charged by different merchants for the same product.

“While I fundamentally believe Price Control has served its usefulness, it’s still in existence and we have to be careful that it’s exercised in the manner for which it was intended,” Gowon Bowe told Tribune Business.

He criticised the way in which the Price Control Commission had taken the TV cameras and other media with it to Galleria Cinemas, and several food stores, over the past several days, arguing that this was causing “sensationalism”.

“It is giving the impression that there is a stand-off between business owners and consumers,” Gowon Bowe added, something he is working to avoid post-VAT.

He explained that some Bahamians were already “feeding off this perception planted early on that if prices increase it’s because of the merchants, not the tax”.

The Government has reduced Customs Duty rates on around 100 tariff lines in a bid to mitigate the 7.5 per cent VAT’s impact, and some of its promotional material in the weeks prior to implementation suggested this might even result in reduced prices post-January 1.

Retailers refuted this suggestion and forced the Government to alter its public information campaign, but Gowon Bowe said many consumers were continuing to labour under a misunderstanding.

He explained that the import tariff rate cuts would take time to feed into store prices, as many retailers were still selling-off inventory brought in before the January 1 rates took effect.

“The only way for the tax to go is up,” Gowon Bowe said. “There has to be an understanding that goods on the shelf are already priced based on the total cost.”

Calling on the Price Control Commission to follow established procedures, dealing with any violators and disclosing such findings in a formal way, he suggested that its Tuesday findings over two Super Value food stores had been “blown out of proportion”.

E. J. Bowe had expressed disappointment that Super Value’s Robinson Road and East Street stores did not have documents detailing the initial and landed costs for ‘breadbasket’ items, and the 23 per cent mark-up permitted by Price Control.

“It left the impression that there was inappropriate pricing, rather than only an administrative difficulty, where the books and records are retained at head office and are available for inspection on request,” Gowon Bowe told Tribune Business.

“We have to be careful we don’t create anxiety and panic among consumers.”

Arguing that the Price Control Commission was effectively ‘tarring all businesses’ with the same price gouging brush, Gowon Bowe added: “It is making the consumers seem incapable of protecting their own affairs.

“Our consumers are witty individuals, and we should promote the fact they can determine prices by where they shop. While there is a cost to moving from one retailer to the next, the Government should be promoting price differentials between items.”

He pointed to the US, where consumer websites were constantly comparing prices for the same product between retailers, suggesting similar services were needed in the Bahamas to produce the likes of ‘low price guarantees’.

“We have to give consumers power without sensationalising it,” Gowon Bowe told Tribune Business, “by giving them information as to where to shop for better prices.

“That’s what we should be encouraging in our consumers; that they take charge with prices by dictating where they shop and not relying on the Government.

“It goes back to dependency on the Government, and it should be the Government facilitating people to protect themselves, not serving as a guardian angel constantly.”

With VAT still in its infancy, Gowon Bowe told Tribune Business that all sides “have to be careful we don’t incite people, where it creates more tension and adversity, before we get this tax bedded down.

“We have to be wise, first get the tax bedded down, and then educate the consumer as to how to protect themselves against any unscrupulous behaviour.”