By TRAVIS SWEETING

This year I turned 30. A welcome turning point in a person's life. However, my future and that of my fellow millennials appears to be quite bleak. Imagine coming of age and kickstarting adulthood in the middle of a financial crisis, then having to accumulate debt, forego savings and be unable to comfortably afford livelihood staples such as food and housing. In our short years, we have been forced to go through 9/11, a war, the great recession of 2008-2009, year-over-year inflation despite no real wage increase in the past 30 years or so, and now a global pandemic in the form of COVID-19.

These events have birthed a generational gap between us and our parents (and their parents) in which we are left to play "catch-up", equally burdened by the unlikelihood of retirement at 65. The boomers are sure to receive their social security benefits but "Gen Xers" are at the point of being uncertain about their social security. Then there's the millennials coming right behind them. Scary, isn't it?

This coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, with its far-reaching consequences, poses a great threat to the Bahamian economy. As many global economies start to slide into a recession, our top industry - tourism - has taken a massive hit, with an estimated 15,000 to 18,000 becoming immediately unemployed and no clear sign as to when life will become normal again. The government of The Bahamas has taken good measures to cushion our economy in the short-term. However, long-term we need a deep plan of action to sustain ourselves and our communities going forward.

The Commonwealth of The Bahamas has for nearly 59 years settled into the economic trajectory that Sir Stafford Sands, the "Father of Tourism" as he is often referred to, placed us on in the 1950s and 60s. I don't question the validity of how well Sir Stafford's moves have helped us in the past. It was the basis of envy we felt as a global tourism mecca. In fact, it afforded many Bahamians a comfortable lifestyle to build, grow and enjoy while making room for a near $400bn second-tier financial services industry. Unfortunately, in a time when more travellers value cultural experiences over luxury rooms at resorts, this volatile economic structure, with tourism making up about 50 percent of our GDP, no longer serves who we are as a country.

Without a doubt we need to feverishly carve out a framework that significantly reduces our dependence on tourism dollars and build-up financial services, healthcare, professional & technology services, retail and e-commerce trade, agriculture and manufacturing, and educational and eco-tourism to diversify our national economy.

The time is now to restructure and revitalise The Bahamas into a 21st century economy that values its people, its resources and its sustainability in an interconnected world.

If we do nothing things will change regardless, but not in the direction of our best interests. Nor one that we will ever be able to recover from in the foreseeable future. I'll put it in terms the wealthier among us can understand: Your money, your homes and businesses stand to be heavily devalued. We must all pull together and demand our elected leaders put their best foot forward in these dire times.

The government's relief plans will cushion Bahamians over the next two to three months, but heading into our new fiscal year and the May budget debate, they must shift focus to long-term action.

With careful consideration of all economic points in our country, I have outlined five major areas of focus for long-term economic growth and sustainability. The first two are detailed here:

Tax Reform

We need our money to circulate within our local economy at least 13 to 15 times' before exiting. Moreover, we need to restructure our tax system from its heavy reliance on consumption-based taxes and secure a more progressive tax system to spur economic growth and pay our bills when they are due. The implementation of a progressive tax system will take time to build out fully, but will increase in yearly intervals until we reach the desired tax rate.

How we do this:

1. Income Taxes - Our income tax structure will follow that of Singapore. Income tax rates of two to 22 percent, based on annual incomes of $30,000 or more, will be implemented. Municipalities (as explained under the "Build Local Economies" section) are able to add on an increased percentage to fund local operations. For example: A national income tax rate can be four percent, with an additional two percent in municipal income tax added for a total six percent income tax rate in a particular bracket. Income taxes would start in the 2022-2023 fiscal year once some level of normality has returned to the Bahamian economy.

2. Establish a yearly tax return system with available tax credits.

3. Maintain a set cost of $80-$125 (plus any municipal zone inflation) for yearly business licences and move to a structured corporate tax.

4. Corporate Taxes - Incrementally implement a 15 percent tax on corporate profits starting for the business year ending 2020 (or company's fiscal year), payable by March 2021, as follows: Three percent in 2020-2021; six percent in 2021-2022; nine percent in 2022-2023; 12 percent in 2023-2024; and 15 percent in 2024-2025 and beyond.

5. Zero rate customs duties for wholesalers and large retailers. Start this in 2020-2021 fiscal year. Supplement government income with borrowing in the interim.

6. Increase import duties for individual importers from 30 percent to 50 percent, which will discourage spending outside of the country and ensure our money circulates locally.

7. Reduce excise tax on fuel and airport taxes. This will help to foster cheaper ticket prices for tourists visiting The Bahamas, in addition to Bahamians considering flying to the Family Islands for vacations versus the US.

8. Raise the minimum wage to $15.25 per hour in incremental increases of $2.50 per year: Start at $5.25 in 2020-2021; increase this to $7.75 in 2021-2022; then to $10.25 in 2022-2023; to $12.75 in 2023-2024; and reach $15.25 in 2024-2025. This coincides favourably with the relaxation of taxes on business revenues and customs duties.

9. Exit all agreements for tax concessions, especially with hotels, who are first to lay-off staff in volatile situations. All purchases must be done locally or brokered locally.

10. Establish that businesses must deposit seven percent of their yearly payroll total in a fund as "regulatory capital" for times such as we are facing now.

11. A year-long national educational programme (localised in each constituency) to understand the new tax system and reforms.

12. Enact legislation to implement all of the above

How do we fund this:

A $700m government bond issue drawing on local bank liquidity, and repayable in five, ten, 15 and 25-year intervals to supplement shortfalls during revenue restructuring.

Build Local Economies

Each major island of The Bahamas carries its own allure, yet we have failed to build sustainable local economies that can stand and flourish on their own.

We must decentralise our economy into effective and efficient local economies that can help shoulder any national crisis we may face. This will be done by reshaping local government and the powers they possess.

Creating municipalities out of our constituencies will form local municipal governments that serve a two-fold purpose. The first is administrative for supplying goods and services, while the other is to represent and involve citizens in determining specific local needs and how these can be met.

Our country has always executed broad policies for the entire country as one economy, but this has not best served the individual economies of the major 17 islands of The Bahamas. This creates a shortfall in places where public needs are not equally distributed, and where a concentration of people, resources and development on one island - mainly New Providence - occurs.

Currently, local governments in The Bahamas have mere ceremonial roles with no real powers to collect taxes and fund themselves. Nor can they enact local laws and legislation without direct approval from the central government.

An excerpt from an online article sums it up well: "In the book 'If Mayors Ruled the World: Dysfunctional Nations, Rising Cities', author Benjamin Barber notes that with all the issues confronting our world, such as climate change, terrorism, poverty and trafficking of drugs and guns, most nations seem incapable of solving their problems. He shows that there are certain qualities that cities around the world (and, I might add, around our state) share with each other: 'Civic trust, participation, pragmatism, indifference to borders and sovereignty, and a democratic penchant for networking, creativity, innovation and cooperation'."

In most cases, the plight of local citizens is never addressed or resolved with nationally-issued solutions. What is needed by citizens in Bimini is not the same as citizens in Long Island or Rum Cay. The Bahamas can thrive, and positively change the trajectory of our economic and social well-being, by allowing citizens to have far more influence at the local level than they ever will at the national level. Further, a municipal government will impact constituents far more frequently than the national government.

How we do this:

1. Transform each constituency into a municipality

2. Provide a $5m budget to each constituency (15 in total) outside of New Providence to be budgeted as follows: $275,000 for leadership salaries (member of Parliament, administrative officer, auditor, mayor and finance officer); $500,000 for City Council formation and salaries; $500,000 for farming, food and agriculture; $500,000 for small business development; $1m for healthcare - medical supplies and restructuring local clinics into mini-hospitals; $100,000 for local government legislation aid and/or formation; $1.125m in direct payments to head of families, with up to $500 to cushion food supply purchases in their local economy; $400,000 in education reform with community school boards and up to 60 percent virtual learning with access to tablets; $250,000 for social programmes and assistance; $250,000 for community development and infrastructure works; $100,000 for community projects, arts and humanities.

3. Provide $2.5m to each constituency (24 in total) on New Providence as follows: $275,000 for leadership salaries (member of Parliament, administrative officer, auditor, mayor and finance officer); $500,000 for City Council formation and salaries; $100,000 for local government legislation aid and/or formation; $625,000 in direct payments to head of families, with up to $250 to cushion food supply purchases in their local economy; $400,000 in education reform with community school boards and up to 60 percent virtual learning with access to tablets; $250,000 for social programmes and assistance; $250,000 for community development and infrastructure works; $100,000 for community projects, arts and humanities. Less is required in New Providence constituencies as a large concentration of the country's resources are already situated within reach of every citizen that resides here.

4. Remove all Members of Parliament from current ministerial positions and shift them to focus exclusively on the expansion of our constituencies into municipalities. See new Cabinet changes under tomorrow's 'government reform' section.

5. Enact legislation to allow, manage and safeguard all of the above.

How we fund this:

* A $135m government bond issue, payable in five, 10 and 15-year intervals, for the first year.

* $5m for task force formation, legislative support and national educational purposes.

Tomorrow's newspaper will identify the other three key reform areas.