This revenue shortfall is very disturbing and vat revenues underperforming has a lot to do it. It shows there is a limit to how high vat can be increased before suffering diminishing returns. I recently imported an item with only 5% customs duty but after freight charges and the vat on top of that it cost me 60% of the item’s cost. This is much too high and a discouragement to consumption.

We simply need to expand our tax base particularly focusing on taxes targeting the wealthy among us. If we had proper enforcement of property taxes this would seem one promising avenue to go. Vat is too regressive of a tax with the burden falling disproportionately on the less wealthy who are the very people most sensitive to an increase and therefore most likely to reduce consumption in the face of a vat increase. Govt needs to serious address this as a 20% shortfall in revenues is unacceptable.

Said it before and I will say it again Fred Smith is a national hero. No Bahamian is doing more to defend civil liberties and human rights in this country.

NO.

Dearest Tal would love to answer you but can not make heads or tails of what you are trying to say. Can you say it plainly, preferably in the queen’s English?

Bahamians have to be some of the most negative people in the world. Look through today’s newspapers many ads for quality jobs. The reality is tourism has never been so good. We are on the cusp sans a recession in the United States of an economic boom. There is so much opportunity, by the end of the year this will have filled down throughout the economy and touched every Bahamian household. Look at almost a billion dollars foreign investment in the pipeline for the next two years. Yes things have been bad for a long time but the dawn always comes and as we say in the islands day has done clear. Open your eyes, seize the opportunity it is there.

What a sham and waste of hot air. We all know there is no accountability for rogue cops in this country, they are protected and can abuse and even kill with impunity. We need an independent investigative commission made up of lay professionals and even that will probably not work, this country is too corrupt to expect justice.

Pathetic. No accountability. No Justice. No peace.

It also makes great business sense for companies to have as many shareholders as possible as this creates loyal customers. I patronize those businesses that I own stock in and offers shares to Bahamians. I therefore buy my gas from Shell, never from Rubis. Why should I help a foreign company that does not give a damn about me when I could help a Bahamian one I am a shareholder of? I know that with every purchase I am benefiting in the sale. I rather shop at Solomon’s than at supervalue. If Mr. Roberts had an IPO for supervalue he would have a built in base of very loyal shareholders who are also customers.

It is an interesting story you were told and there may be some truth to it but I suspect very little. The facts are that commonwealth bank has more than 4000 different individual Bahamian shareholders, the Arawak Port over 10000. Those are not inconsequential numbers in a population as small as ours and could be much larger if the government cared more about stock ownership and wealth equality.

For those wise and lucky Bahamians who hold on to their shares long term, share ownership can be financially liberating and life changing. It has certainly changed my life. I bought into Bahamian companies with the earnings from my first paychecks, very small amounts, but consistently month after month, year after year. As Albert Einstein said the most powerful force in the universe is compound interest. I was able to retire after only working 13 years. What I did any Bahamian with a modest income, frugal lifestyle and discipline along with investing savvy and some luck can achieve, but it would have been impossible without the opportunity to invest in Bahamian companies and by extension BISX.

I must say I know very little about the structure or terms of our entry into WTO. It shows that the government has done a terrible job explaining it to the Bahamian people. I am certainly in the camp that is sceptical that the pros will outweigh the cons. But I am confident that we have the discretion to mandate a certain level of Bahamian ownership in these companies if there is the political will to do it. The United States is in the WTO and prohibits more than 25% foreign ownership in any domestic airline carrier. I would imagine there are many other examples of this.

I am sure too that as broad a base of Bahamian ownership in these companies is the way to go. It simply empowers the average Bahamian to have an opportunity to share in the wealth creation in this country. It makes no sense to restrict a local market so a few individuals can reap the profits of artificially high protectionist restrictions that raise the cost of living throughout the country and they refuse to allow others who pay the cost of these subsidies to benefit as well. Government needs to do more to incentivize firms to offer shares to the public.