By DIANE PHILLIPS

The Bahamas should raise extra revenue to finance social services by levying a 1 percent tax on all real estate purchases by wealthy investors, a well-known realtor is urging.

Mario Carey, founder of Better Homes & Gardens Real Estate MCR Group, said that while such a suggestion may cause surprise - given that it comes from a realtor - the need to better finance efforts to acombat poverty, hunger and medical needs cannot be ignored.

“I don’t care how many eyebrows it raises; my concern is how do we raise funds – funds we desperately need for those who go to bed hungry, or go to school on an empty stomach while someone comes into The Bahamas, writes a cheque for $1m-$2m for a condo he will use a few times a year, or turns around and sells it at a profit and contributes nothing to community causes,” said Mr Carey.

“What I am suggesting is a win-win for everyone. We create a foundation managed by a not-for-profit organisation and levy a 1 percent tax on every purchase above a certain amount, with the funds going into the foundation to support the most deserving social services causes. The foundation would be a 501C3, entitling the donor to tax benefits back in the US and the equivalent in Canada.”

Mr Carey, who has enjoyed a successful 40-year career with more than $3bn in real estate transactions, has turned his attention to civic initiatives in the past few years while keeping his toes in a high-end property market that he says can easily afford - and will not resist - a 1 percent levy for the right causes.

During COVID-19, Mr Carey closed the Better Homes & Gardens office weekly, taking his staff to help distribute more than 8,200 hot meals every Friday. It was a partnership with Graycliff, who put their staff to work preparing the food while Mr Carey and his team packaged and distributed outside, a street away from one of the most economically-challenged neighbourhoods in New Providence.

Now a director of the Bahamas Feeding Network, Mr Carey’s attention is on fund-raising to help support the more than 120 churches and feeding organisations that the network assists with more than 60,000 meals a month. In September, he hosted the second annual Tee-off for Hunger golf tournament at Ocean Club Golf Course. With Fidelity Bank as title sponsor, and dozens of lesser sponsors and prize donors, the tournament raised $61,000 for the Bahamas Feeding Network.

"That sounds like a lot, but it will not even buy a full month’s worth of food for the hundreds who depend on Bahamas Feeding Network,” said Mr Carey. “We have great ongoing sponsors like Royal Caribbean and a host of others, but we need to find a way to bring more equity to the entire issue of adequate food, health care, education, special needs, homelessness.

"We have very wealthy individuals and established companies coming to this country, enjoying it or even making money from The Bahamas, buying pre-construction or early in a project, turning around and selling it, some enjoying short-term vacation rental revenue. And we have others who beg for a dollar and will go home hungry tonight.”

Those are the people, Mr Carey added, who can readily afford 1 percent more on the cost of closing.

“Tourism will start levying a 1 percent tax, so if they can do it in the tourism industry – the number one driver of the Bahamian economy, and one in which the volume is high and profits are low – I see no reason why we cannot do something similar in real estate transactions, going beyond what tourism is doing by creating a foundation that provides a means of donation with tax benefits," he said.

Mr Carey said funds would be paid by investors' attorneys at the time of closing, placed in a foundation that has a carefully-selected board of private sector directors without political or governmental participation or interference, and disbursed with the assistance and in accordance with needs established by the Department of Social Services.

Non-Bahamian real estate purchases over $750,000, which is the current threshold for permanent residency consideration, would be eligible for the 1 percent levy. Mr Carey said more opposition to his proposal may come from the real estate community than from buyers.

“Down deep in their hearts, people want to do the right thing. They want to do good for others,” he added. “We have needs. Government cannot do it alone, and buyers coming in from abroad have money and a desire to live or buy in The Bahamas. A one-time fee of 1 percent is not too much to ask. And, if managed properly, it will go a very long way.”

The next step, Mr Carey said, is a formal presentation to officials with projected numbers and an outline of the plan.

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