Read this young man....he speaks for the future....if we have to courage to approach it.

I note that Mr. Seymour is merely explaining what government "expects".
But from whence do they expect such a windfall?
$200 Million?
Mmmmmmmmmmm. Define fantasy, coupled with dementia...it is a madness too devoutly wished; to paraphrase a term.

Let's be very clear: taxes are not unilinear. Governments do not merely impose taxes with no reaction in the marketplace. (Read: The Lucas Critique). Tax systems are an interstice....which is to say, you do A and XYZ effects occur. What I am saying is that the effects are multipliers of the initial action.

If the tax is low enough and efficient enough and has triggers (you do not get B until you have done A), then it does not induce a "Marginal Impulse to Aversion". However, there seems to be a spirit in the Bahamas that you simply impose a tax and you get all this money. First, the Churches and Unions have shown that they run the show. They will force "equity" concessions, which complicate the tax code. This means more expense to collect the same amount of projected revenues; which means either less revenues or higher taxes.

The government can have no true idea of what VAT may likely raise. In a country where people are averse to taxation, switching to a "honour system" tax seems fastidiously foolish. But a writer in these comments has put the matter right in saying that this is the game of the Bretton Woods institutions. Blind governments, lacking a clear understanding of how the world actually works, get drunk on the platitudes of unaccountable IMF minstrels....and only too late find that they have committed their countries to singing for their supper.

Professor Gilbert NMO Morris

http://tribune242.com/users/photos/2013…

We tend to treat incentives as a "giveaway". They are not. If a government just gives "incentives" without targeted reasons, then they are not incentives, but instead are evidence of that government's deal ignorance.

An incentive recognises the competitive nexus in which investments must occur. That means other countries are giving concessions to induce the investor to put money in their countries rather than ours. If we want that investment, we should weigh balancing factors such as whether the investment put the Bahamas on the map in certain sectors, or strengthens an existing sector, or attaches to another sector to maximise its proficiency.

In this way, incentives are never a giveaway because the government knows the balancing factors that make the investment viable. And the concession on revenues should be made up elsewhere. Therefore its never right to say the government should stop giving incentives. This can only mean that the government does not have a balancing index of benefits in mind...and that it has been foolish and undisciplined in its approach.

Professor Gilbert NMO Morris

How can you find a buyer for ZERO?

The value of the two family equity is ZERO; in fact negative ZERO, since they are mired in debt from an inability to meet capital calls, which left Hutchison to finance the Freeport International Airport and other developments.

At the same time, partly because of incompetence, the value of the Hawksbill Creek Agreement has be dissipated through government interference, which the Port induced in exchanged for escaping its responsibilities to the licensees.

If anyone understands how business works.....they would understand immediately that there is no value left in what we call "the Port".

Professor Gilbert NMO Morris

comment and response:

“It’s a bit of an irony for the Bahamas, because everyone who is in the EPA are members of the WTO except for us,” Mrs Gardiner said.

what meaning does this have? if we have a strategy, so what if other people are members of the international cat eating league? you do not commit your country without a strategy based on specific interests. all our caribbean neighbours are members of wto. which would you rather have, our life and options or theirs? what has membership in wto given them?

“What happened was that the Caribbean region got involved with negotiations on the EPA, and the Government did not have the capacity to negotiate both simultaneously; both are very arduous tasks,” she said.

if the government did not have this capacity, what makes us think we will have the capacity to deal with the constant flow of initiatives and demands that come with wto membership? between complying with our capitulations in financial services and dealing with the reams of data and rulings from the wto, our government will consume the bahamian people's resources in following and fulfilling other people's objectives...and will tax us to finance this!

“There is a misconception that Wal-Mart is going to move down the street and businesses are going to get wiped out. That’s not the objective. We are going to have to protect the sensitive areas and our trade partners are aware of this,” said Mrs Gardiner.

barking nonsense. you will not be able to protect any area of the economy without penalty. even if 'phase ins' are permitted, they will be short-lived. moreover, in strategic terms, these are not issues to be considered on the fly. they should have been detailed years ago, with government support programmes to strengthen critical but under capitalised sectors or areas; having built-in mature options for competitiveness and sustainability.

Professor Gilbert NMO Morris

Our names are not called because we are irrelevant!

a. There are no significant excise taxes in the Bahamas that justify a change in tax models.

b. VAT will raise prices because compliance for business will be onerous.

c. VAT will not produce transparency. Instead it is likely to add to and cultivate a large cash underground economy.

d. The Bahamas lacks the administrative depth to administrate VAT and its anathema to our money related culture.

e. Barbados - which has greater administrative depth then the Bahamas - has experienced severe arrears in VAT compliance.

f. Most Caribbean nations have significant delays in paying VAT refunds.

g. Since VAT is just a stepping stone to the WTO, nothing the government says on VAT can have credibility.

h. Everywhere in the Caribbean (except the Dominican Republic, where hardly anyone pays), the VAT rate has increased by more than 50% within the 7 years after implementation.

Professor Gilbert NMO Morris

What is the meaning of this characterisation: "Fourth largest financial centre". It means nothing. In Singapore, significant portions of its bank holdings are attracted for investment directly into Singapore, through financial products designed for direct investment in the Singapore economy; not merely - as in the Bahamas - for investment in another country through Singapore.
What is the point of having so many accounts registered through the Bahamas, when Bahamians are starved for investment capital?
It is clear evidence that we celebrate being close to other people's money, without imagining making an appeal through credible business cases to those people to entice them to invest in us.
It is something of a disgrace that we are contented with such meaningless charactisations, whilst our pockets are empty.

The Lord must refuse to help us. A recent headline said: The Bahamas Leads on FATCA Compliance. How can you lead on something that is designed to destroy you? This notice - in the link below - is presented as if we have done something. The US government seeks out - as it should - a jurisdiction to hold an event at which it will read the riot act to those engaged in financial services in our region.Do you think they are telling us how to enhance our business? Is our business worth enhancing or are we bottomfeeding in such a way that makes us suceptible constantly to this making of our own commercial coffins?
We should not present this as if its a Bahamas initiative. Its as if to say to the world: Hey everyone, our executioner is in my house. The rest of you all come over to hear how we shall die. And you actually think you gain prestige because of this.
Clearly, again, the US is doing what is in its best interest, as it should. But must we present it as if its growth policy hatched by our Government?
What is the Bahamas strategy to build an actual financial centre on a platform that is FATCA neutral? When are we going to cease holding our own crucification events, joyously, as if they are an achievement of some sort?

There is nothing like a small nation obsequiously buttering up to a larger one, on the basis that gleeful, willful even over-reaching compliance will ingratiate the small nation to the larger one. The small nation's officials tend to think: if only we can oversell our willingness to drink the poison we are being forced to drink. From this they actually think they will be allowed - for this evangelical capitulation - to survive. This is a delusion, because it is not compliance that the large nation seeks. It is elimination.

Professor Gilbert NMO Morris