Can the vacation rentals now get heads of agreements to waive duty and property taxes like the big hotels among many other perks?

Look at how long it took the dodos to wake up and smell the coffee!

> Robert Sands told Tribune Business that the Minnis administration’s VAT crackdown was “long overdue” as it will ensure the 12 percent levy is charged on the actual rent paid by visitors as well as the commissions paid to online marketplaces such as Airbnb.

But why doesn't Robert Sands say the cruise ship passengers should be subject to 12% VAT on that portion of the total package cost of their voyage that can be attributed to the duration of their voyage actually spent in our territorial waters? After all, they are floating hotel rooms with onboard dining, onboard shopping and onboard entertainment, all of which would ordinarily be subject to 12% VAT for land based goods and services.

VAT could be levied on the cruise ship passenger's sea based goods and services while in the territorial waters of the Bahamas using a relatively simple formula like the following:

VAT = 12% x Passenger's total cost of voyage x (Total days in Bahamas / Total days of voyage)

On board shopping and entertainment directly paid for by passengers (out-of-pocket) could be made exempt from VAT. The existing passenger head tax could then be termed a 'Pollution Cost Recovery Head Tax'.

All of the other Caribbean cruise destinations could be encouraged to charge VAT determined on a similar basis at an agreed minimum rate. And the same goes for the 'Pollution Cost Recovery Head Tax'.

The cruise ship operators and their owners have had a free ride for far too long and its high time Minnis and D'Aguilar showed some meaningful vision and leadership grounded in achieving a much more fair and level economic playing field for all impacted by the cruise ship industry in our region of the world.

Yup. Charge a 12% vat on all purchases and services on board while in our waters. Easy enough to do as each sale on board is time stamped.

Do bahamas registered cruise ships pay VAT on their sales? probably not. If the hotels are really worried about competition from home rentals then maybe they need to look into why? Do the hotels in the Bahamas present value for money? Do hotels get amazing concession? they can even buy cars trucks boats and not pay a lick of VAT or import duty on those items. What concessions do the average home renter get?

Whether the cruise ships are registered in the Bahamas is irrelevant from the standpoint of the applicability of VAT. Their passengers should be paying VAT on that portion of the total cost of their voyage which pertains to the attributed value of the goods and services they expect to receive while in our terrotorial waters. The 12% VAT should be collected by the operators of the cruise ships from their passengers and remitted to the government of the Bahamas.

anyone ever noticed that the BHTA is really just a lobbying vehicle to influence the government? they do not have the bahamian peoples best interest at heart. The BHTA exists simply to work out the best deals for the big hotels and that is it.

Bingo!

And just think, our MPs were elected by the people to represent the people but they end up being corrupted by their 'financial backers' and the special interest groups they represent.

Sands is right.

Vacation rentals are well and good and its providing some competition for hotels but they should be subject to a license with a fee and, by all means, provide exemptions for expenses legitimately incurred in the development of the rental properties.

But owners aren't going to want to do that unless they have properly invested in a suitable property. Using a random house in a residential community for vacation rentals should be discouraged as they are a nuisance and security risk.

As for taxing the cruise lines, that's counter to the government initiatives to bring the tourists here to buy our chinese made crap on Bay Street. But I'm going to work on the premise that govt has computed the economic benefits of cruise ship passengers and that the current model must be beneficial.

But vacation rentals are a) damaging to hotels, b) a nuisance when situated in residential communities and c) provide less economic benefit to the country than the hotels that employ our workforce.

Did I mention they pose a nuisance???

They're a nuisance!!

I'm not from the hotel industry but I sympathise with the situation.

And vacation rentals are a nuisance :)

But i would place good money that vacation rentals provide more economic benefit then cruise ships, so by your logic it is the cruise ships we should get rid of.

Good point!

>@g9822033 says: "But I'm going to work on the premise that govt has computed the economic benefits of cruise ship passengers and that the current model must be beneficial."

Rubbish. The very greedy "all for themselves" business model and most unlevel playing field of the cruise ship industry had all but put the nails in the coffin of our downtown Nassau shopping and dining district long before the Wuhan Virus came along.

The modern day cruise ship industry will never be an economic driver for our country. If they don't own it themselves they're just not going to let their cruise ship passengers spend any significant money on it to make it a success, no matter what it may be. The best we can hope for is that they be made to abide by a level playing field from the standpoint of VAT and contributing to the cost of cleaning up their pollution to the maximum extent possible.

The AirBnB renters now need to come together and form a lobbying group for equal rights for exemptions. If you add up the value of all of these properties we would be very surprised to see how it compares to investments made by major hotels.
Also, if you calculate the revenue government generates from all of these rental properties through property tax, duty of construction and furnishings I am sure that you will find that it equals or exceeds revenue generated by most of our hotels.
If this is found to be accurate then they should be entitled to exemptions.

Minnis and D'Aguilar prefer to give the foreign owned cruise ship industry a free pass on VAT while clobbering the dickens out of most of us small-fry Bahamians with it. That alone speaks volumes about the level of corruption that exists between our government and the cruise ship industry.