Both PLP and FNM want to offer free medical care. The former didn't and don't care how it is paid for so long as people get it at some level. The latter want people to have it at some level but either want to tax us to cover the cost or want us to pay for the cost. The former want to give us a free lunch and they will worry later about what it costs. The latter want to wean us off the freebies as they realise that there is no such thing as a really free lunch as everything comes at a cost to someone.

On the civil service bit, the government has to decide what is the service's role and purpose in the administration of government services. Under the PLP the evolved into an employment agency for the party faithful whether they had any academic credentials or not (can you say National Insurance Board as a bloated example). The FNM was guilty of the same thing at times but eventually realised that they needed credentialed people if the service was to progress and improve. There is a popular but erroneous notion that the civil service is bloated and overstaffed. In my opinion that's not true. What it has is many uncredentialled or undercredentialled persons who are in it predpminantly for the salary and the pension but are not interested or incapable of getting qualifications or additional qualifications that are required for today's modern business environment. Do you keep them on or send them packing? Because every Bahamian who wants a job needs a job but not everyone has the skills for the job they want or have.

Oh and by the way Editor, I see your back page ad about too many radio stations. You need to give it a rest as it comes over as elitist and monopolist. The purpose of freeing up the airwaves was so that, as long as spectrum is available in the FM band, then anyone who wanted an FM radio station licence and could afford the licence fees and had the money to get into the business could start up their own radio station. It's called competition and that's the difference between 1993 and now. One could say that all of these radio stations have the right to succeed or fail. You were quick to buy up one of the failing stations. Everyone has the right to dream of being a radio or media mogul. Whether they succeed or fail, it's their dollar that they are spending to get into business, not yours. Also there are about 22 FM radio stations in New Providence and possibly 47 in the whole country. Don't people in other islands have a right to try their hand at starting a broadcasting business or should we get it all from one source but on Shirley Street instead of Collins Avenue hill?

Well Strachan if in 4 years the FNM's financial plan is successful, what will you say then? This is the best time to take bad tasting medicine because if they are right and successful with it, people like you will be commending them for having had the intestinal fortitude to do what they are doing. Better to do these things in the first years of an administration than wait until the end and expect people's understanding. Ask Hubert Ingraham with the financial services legislation and then the roads.

All of a sudden Bahamians find out about the words "public consultation" and believe that there should be public consultation on everything before the government takes action on anything but their memories are short on this subject. Pindling didn't believe in public consultation and the closest he came was his white and green papers on independence. Ingraham tried public consultation with his constitutional referendum, get busted over the head and never went near it again. Christie tried public consultation twice, get busted over his head twice and never went near it again. Given his predecessors track record, you think Minnis wants to try his luck on the public consultation wheel of fortune?

The pollsters called me on my home phone. From the slant of the questions I am convinced that their client was the webshops because that was the main focus of the questions. The other stuff about 12% VAT seemed to be a throw-in just to give it an air of legitimacy. Also the limited choice of answers to many of the questions affected how the results would turn out and in some cases would get a response that the pollster wanted. In any event, if you ask 800 or 8000 people "Do you support a tax increase?" what answer do you expect to get? Of course the overwhelming majority will say "No". Ask the same people if they support no taxes and they are mostly going to say "Yes. You get the answer you want based on how and what questions you ask. My college professors called it the use and abuse of statistics.

15 to 20% markup is the rule of thumb. Is Sands talking about the people who call themselves contractors but are really swindlers in disguise dropping out or is he talking about the guys who know the difference between a 2 penny nail and a 2 inch nail? No skin off our noses losing the first crew as they are not really contractors to begin with. When are we going to have certification and even licensing in the building contractor profession. Only thing left is for some ex jailbirds to start calling themselves contractors. Oops, some of them already doing that.

We have plenty quasi Socialism in this country. People don't want to pay taxes, customs duty, government fees but we expect free medical care at PMH from motivated and happy doctors and nurses who are paid well and have the best and latest equipment to work with, smooth roads to ride on, big salary with all kind of perks and pension, police to come fast to our house in new cars when we call, government buildings with the best computers and other equipment and no mold, happy teachers in well maintained schools with all kinds of technology and materials to teach with. The government machine only works if it has lots of money to cover the costs of all the requirements, perks, benefits, etc. That comes from the payment and collection of taxes. If gamblers got money to throw away then let the government get as much of that as possible. The 5% on webshop deposits is coming out of the customers money, not webshops revenues. If Bahamas is joining WTO by 2019 then customs duties will largely have to disappear and be replaced by other forms of taxation, particularly ones that the government is better able to actually collect.

The opposition response to 12% VAT and increased webshops taxes is reminiscent of Chicken Little: "The sky is falling. The sky is falling." I'll bet $100 to Obie's $1 that this time next year not one webshop will have closed or that they will have laid off 3000 people or anything near that number. Things are too sweet for them to cut off their noses to spite their faces. 11% tax was a ridiculously low number and the latest increase ain't really enough but will do and get the people enough in taxes for now. There's nothing discriminatory about this tax increase. Bahamians can't gamble in local casinos and the foreigners don't come over the hill to gamble in the webshops. And the webshops story that gambling companies only pay 15% tax in England ain't true. It's more like 63% because they also pay taxes that go towards sports, arts, culture, antiquities and education.

I challenge Sebas and Flowers and the other webshops to publish their annual audited accounts for each year since they were legalised. I also challenge each of them to publish a list of their real estate holdings, owned and leased, in each island where they operate. When Peter Kruger signed a heads of agreement document in somebody else's name, people were shouting that he had committed the offence of forgery. How is Galanis any different? He's advising the webshops guys to break the law. Where I come from, you pay the tax and sue the authorities in Court for your money back plus interest and costs assuming you can succeed with your case and the judge agrees with you. Clearly the webshops customers have money that they don't mind losing so increasing the taxes isn't hurting anyone except Flowers and Sebas' pockets. What's their beef except they now taking home less than before. 50% of $100 million is $50 million. They can't live off $50 million in a year?

There does not seem to be a coherent plan as to what is top priority and how it should be attacked. So we have any and everybody talking off the top of their head as to what needs to be addressed. I can assure Minnis, KP and Carl that it's not marital rape, over the Hill economic zones, it's not an office for the Wife and the like. People need jobs, need work and need to know that looking out for Bahamians are the high priorities of this government. Minnis those demonstrate that while they wanted to win on election day in 2017, they were not prepared to actually take over and were not prepared to hit the ground running from Day One. They are all over the place like someone with ADD. If they don't understand by now, slogans and ignoring the cries of the people will not ensure their re-election in 4 years time. Old Bahamian saying: if you can't hear, you will feel.

Expect to pay several hundreds of thousands of dollars. Forensic audits don't come cheap. Worse still if you are trying to negotiate the price after the work has been done. Maybe that's why we don't yet know the cost of any of these audits.