I'm german and i voted no just for the amusement. I makes me laugh so hard i couldn't resist to press "no". I cannot believe the guy is so stupid to suggest something like that. Maybe he wanted to retire and leave a strong impression - i don't know.
<BR>
I have a nice counter-proposal, chop off mens penis as it would also reduce the murder-rate with less testosterone on the island. Men would be more relaxed and quiet - who knows, maybe it would bring a chance to those politicians as well... You could make it a pre-requirement to become a MP - a sacrafice for your country that shows true dedication, Sorry, cannot stop laughing...

How about creating jobs instead, fixing the economy and giving your people a proper chance in life by working on education and health-care ?

Unbelievable... they don't even feel ashamed... Poor people of the Bahamas, getting publicly robbed and then sent back into the corner.

Your government does nothing to create jobs and the hostility against foreigners who bring money and jobs doesn't help either. The economy can only grow by 2 things, exports and investments.

.. and board the refugee boats to the US...

In europe the average VAT is at 21%. In the US federal plus state tax on items match 25%. To be honest i don't feel that it is too much - you have to consider that the restaurants also can offer their food for 30% less because of the missing import duty on the goods. Maybe start out with 10% or 12.5% raise it if necessary a year or two later. As far as i know there is a property tax already, didn't know they don't enforce/collect it properly. I was more thinking for the masses, even if i pay 30% more in a restaurant it's fine as long as the prices in the groceries, electricity and water drop a bit. No import duty will attact a lot of global players, e.g i wouldn't wonder if WalMarts would open here or even large european groceries like Lidl.

Looks like he doesn't care anymore... can't really blame him.

- Remove/Heavily reduce import duties, instead increase the VAT from 7.5% to 15% to compensate the loss of import duties. This lifts off a lot of risk for businesses because you have to pay import duties upfront while VAT is paid when the item is sold - resulting in a much higher liquidity and also enables business to import and offer more products. The import duties make products more expensive, so when you don't sell the product in the Bahamas and you want to export it again you have to recollect already paid duties (good luck with that, anyone). In reality you don't import anything you might not sell. This is will also refresh the car market, as dealers now can be competitive again to the US/Japanese market. Import duties are killing your economy to a great extend as it raises the risk vs. reward a lot.
<BR><BR>
- If you run a business here and you employ people you get a work-permit and residency permit (fast). Allow foreigners to open up local businesses. Currently there is no way as a foreigner to open up the business here as getting the permits is a "pain in the arse". I'm was sitting on a huge amount of investment money that now has flown into other countries where i employ people for the simple reason that i cannot wait a year to get a permit - and honestly, you are delusional if you think i would wait for anything when i bring money and jobs into the country.
<BR><BR>
- Import "teachers" and rework your education system. D- on average means that the majority is unemployable.
<BR><BR>
- Modernize your government, i cannot believe the amount of paper that is used here. There are computers that can store data for quick and efficient access.

<BR><BR>
These suggestions are really no-brainers.

Jobs are created by companies and whoever has tried to run a business in the Bahamas will come to the conclusion that it is simply not worth the effort and risk involved. High import duty, crime, stubborn politicians - i was waiting for over a year to launch a software development company here including a school for software development so i could hire directly in this country. Forget it, i'm still waiting for the permits for more than a year now so meanwhile we hired people in the UK and the US and the job positions have been filled. It's a real shame what this government does to it's people, as a foreigner it doesn't affect me but it still makes me upset the way people who want to bring money and jobs into this country are treated.

If you charge 60% Import Tax you don't need to wonder why people aren't buying new cars. A BMW 320i in germany costs about 30.500 EUR, that's more or less 35.000$ for a 0 miles/factory new car. The same car costs here 80.000$ and only if the dealer just wants to make a very small margin. Import duty kills your economy as in general it's simply not worth it to bring anything into this country as you have to pay insane high amounts of import duty upfront without knowing when or if you are getting it back. That concept is pure poison for any business.