I agree with The Oracle. These people are racketeers, period. Their wealth was attained through illegal means, period. I still cannot fathom how this government thought it was okay to try and pretty up illegality when they could have had a national lottery, which would have been much more beneficial to the population as a whole, as opposed to this. These people have lived luxurious lives while committing a crime, their children, lovers and friends have benefitted massively. Stop the madness. Do what is right. We all know the funds were obtained from illegal means. Confiscate it and put it to use in the public treasury while keeping the politicians' paws out of it. Do the same with all these drug dealers and people who went into the house of assembly dragging their slippers and now are suddenly multimillionaires, calling the shots and getting cuts out of every deal taking place in this land. Create a national lottery for the public benefit and stop playing with these people man. Enough is enough.
"Business license fee breaks": what breaks are we talking about here? There have been no breaks since St George died back in 2004. I believe the Vice President of the Port at that time made great strides in raising the fees on everyone at that time, including essential services where the license fees were very significantly raised. The business license fees go up every few years and the government still has additional license fees to add on top of those so, you see what I'm saying? Of interest, Grand Bahama sends a great deal of tax dollars to the public treasury every year, about 150-200 million dollars per annum, yet very little is returned and they badly need it. Why is that, Mr. Christie? Why is there a new ten percent man in town where potential investors complain about it sir? This country is not your and your crew's personal and private possession, though it seems that that is exactly how it is treated. Also, can we have an accounting for how the money delegated to the Ministry of Grand Bahama is spent? Seems to a lot of people that only a select few are benefitting. None can see how 30+ million dollars each year for the past two years have been spent. Additionally, before any further consideration is taken, ask the port owners whether they would stop pouring all their profits into the Cayman Islands and instead invest it to improve the city of Freeport. Can't be all gravy for them and nothing for the people who live there.
Yes, Christie. How do you intend to pay for NHI? You are currently raiding the National Insurance Fund for BoB and other unworthy causes, VAT is here and was supposed to be used to pay down our debt but you are talking mess about using it for infrastructure, now NHI? You people cannot manage the public health care system as it is. As a further insult, you parliamentarians either take yourselves to the expensive private hospital on island or to physicians abroad. Yinna don't have to go through what the rest of us do and yet you want to force something like this on us? Why should more of my money be snatched from me to pay for something like that? We barely get what we need through PHA now, and i do not want you making choices for me on my health care! Why are you always looking for ways to sink this country? Scrap that man! Barely making it around here now! Get accountable with BAMSI and other of the country's raped and wasted funds and return all that largesse to the public treasury, make healthy foods affordable, promote exercise heavily and emphasize prevention and thus avoid this nine to ten figure disaster that you are determined to shove down our throats. I and so many others are so sick of the ineptness and lack of accountability your government is. Retire man and call an early election. We need a coalition of business geniuses to run this country, not PLP, FNM or DNA. This crew needs to go tho and now.
The casual way Roberts brushes MR. Moss aside says so much about what is wrong with this place. These people are so used to victimizing and intimidating people that think they are untouchable. Christie, please do something right for a change and put Roberts out to pasture. The chances of your party continuing to govern past the next elections are slim to none, if all the thinking Bahamians come out to vote. Help the party out and silence this troll.
I agree. While everyone is at the table, try to convince the GBPA to re-invest some of the money they collect off exorbitant business license fees and service charges and use them to re-invest in the development of Freeport rather than stashing it away in the Cayman Islands. I would also recommend they restructure their formula for calculating service charges as they are primarily the cause of the high cost of living in Freeport upon which they base this "formula" and often times services that should be performed are not actually done. Then a landowner is threatened with having their property repossessed for failure to pay these things. Lucayan Estates anyone? How can service charges be levied and you cannot build on the land, and they will not exchange it for an area that you can build in? Add to that a rescinding of their policy to LEASE commercial land to Bahamians rather than selling it to the citizens of the country. What do you think about that? You want to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars improving once vacant land with a high class structure only to have these people come along and take it from you? Does that make any sense, especially with the many square miles of undeveloped land that is there? Allow alternative energy sources rather than threatening people when they try to save themselves from exorbitant power fees by using solar or other means after all, how can you police the power company when you yourself have a huge stake in the tens of millions of dollars they siphon off the masses? Exorbitant is not the word. Businesses, while de-crying VAT should also de-cry all these things. They are but the tip of the iceberg as to why Freeport doesn't prosper and continues to drag along to ghost town status. What a shame.
I really do not care what Roberts' opinion is. It is irrelevant.He is following American political rhetoric with this constant pushing of the "flip flopper" storyline. Be original please. Dr. Minnis is entitled to an opinion, and free to change his mind on issues when certain factors reveal themselves, but I am certain that when it comes down to the nitty gritty, he is more than capable of making an informed, firm decision. He could not have successfully practiced medicine all these years without that particular skill. This governing party, however, is pure smoke screens and mirrors. Roberts, use your loud voice on the issues of crime, making persons who owe long outstanding taxes pay them, ending the corruption that causes our country to stink at every level with nary a hope of moving forward, and stop wasting our time on useless crap like this.
Always with the familiar, oft used excuse. Can anyone regulate these people? (and don't say the GBPA either. No positive action will happen from that front.)
Unfortunately, the Grand Bahama Port Authority will not do so. What it did instead was link the business person's current status, in essence their being up to date with payments, to getting a business licence number in order to register for VAT and obtain a TIN number, as the government has demanded. Also, rather than educating their licensees on VAT and what it means in the city of Freeport, they chose instead to conduct sessions that attendees had to pay for. It was another means of siphoning money off the masses. They know, and the government knows, that this taxation has no place in Freeport because of the HCA; in fact, for the 150 to 200 million dollars in taxes collected from Freeport each year and absconded by the capital, very little is sent or done in return. The government figures "The Port will take care of it"(and they have the audacity to imply that Freeport "is always begging" when it asks for the assistance to which it is entitled as a part of the country and for the huge amounts of cash that the government relieves it of!); the port thinks "well the government is collecting, so they will take care of it" (in the meantime they are killing the populace with ridiculous business license and service charges fees and horrendous power bills; the power company by itself looms large over the sheer number of closed businesses on the island) and the result is the ghost town on Grand Bahama. The place is dismal and it is disgraceful what has been allowed to happen there. Greed and selfishness abound and there is no accountability at any level. Every time a government person gets on the media and brags about how well Freeport and Grand Bahama Island is doing, I really have to wonder which flicking planet they are on. They probably are doing well, and we are all still waiting for them to declare their assets. I would love to measure up how their fortunes have changed since the last election. How about some real investigative journalism here? In any case, I doubt any defense of the licensees will be forth coming. It should have been done long before now. You think this are rough now? The government is going to plant its big worthless backside on top of us and make life even more unbearable. The tsunami that is VAT is on our door step. May God help us all.
With all the threats you people were issuing, did you expect anything different minister? No one is in a rush to hasten the demise of our country. These businesses certainly aren't. No where in the Caribbean where this garbage was forced on the citizenry has the very awful tax been successful. All those countries are sinking and even with knowing this, you forced this on us. Garbage and filth. Collect the taxes you all are already due and stop giving your friends family sweetheart and nation of offspring passes that none of the rest of us get. Better educate the populace and cut the cabinet and civil service. We are being made to suffer further for foolishness done by government over the last forty plus years, the worst being the administrations of 2002-2007 and currently. People can barely afford to live in this ridiculously expensive place now and you are going to further the pain by putting this on us? Early election please and I hope only informed voters are allowed to cast votes. Some of the people who actually do and are bussed in to vote are a scary lot; they control all our future and destinies and have no clue as to the state of the nation, what is going on in the country and the consequences of voting in exchange for a favor. Disgraceful and horrific.
Mr. Smith, please take all that passion and energy and use it to fight the GBPA on Grand Bahamians' behalf. They have abused the people there for numerous years and have more than earned returns on their initial investment. To just willy nilly charge fees upon fees for things not being done (see Lucayan Estates), business licenses and just allowing the power company to literally leave people in darkness and shut down businesses due to those outrageous bills while using duty free fuel is just unacceptable. While they live a life of luxury, the populace suffers as they are just a means to feed that high end life style. That needs to be your focus. Help Freeport to grow the way that it is supposed to. You cannot justify these illegal people breaking the laws of the land nor agree to the disintegration of our culture and sovereignty due to our being out-bred by these persons from Hispaniola. They have their own country that they can do that in.
Islandgirl says...
I agree with The Oracle. These people are racketeers, period. Their wealth was attained through illegal means, period. I still cannot fathom how this government thought it was okay to try and pretty up illegality when they could have had a national lottery, which would have been much more beneficial to the population as a whole, as opposed to this. These people have lived luxurious lives while committing a crime, their children, lovers and friends have benefitted massively. Stop the madness. Do what is right. We all know the funds were obtained from illegal means. Confiscate it and put it to use in the public treasury while keeping the politicians' paws out of it. Do the same with all these drug dealers and people who went into the house of assembly dragging their slippers and now are suddenly multimillionaires, calling the shots and getting cuts out of every deal taking place in this land. Create a national lottery for the public benefit and stop playing with these people man. Enough is enough.
On Gov’t, web shops at odds on ‘back taxes’
Posted 29 January 2015, 2:32 p.m. Suggest removal
Islandgirl says...
"Business license fee breaks": what breaks are we talking about here? There have been no breaks since St George died back in 2004. I believe the Vice President of the Port at that time made great strides in raising the fees on everyone at that time, including essential services where the license fees were very significantly raised. The business license fees go up every few years and the government still has additional license fees to add on top of those so, you see what I'm saying? Of interest, Grand Bahama sends a great deal of tax dollars to the public treasury every year, about 150-200 million dollars per annum, yet very little is returned and they badly need it. Why is that, Mr. Christie? Why is there a new ten percent man in town where potential investors complain about it sir? This country is not your and your crew's personal and private possession, though it seems that that is exactly how it is treated. Also, can we have an accounting for how the money delegated to the Ministry of Grand Bahama is spent? Seems to a lot of people that only a select few are benefitting. None can see how 30+ million dollars each year for the past two years have been spent. Additionally, before any further consideration is taken, ask the port owners whether they would stop pouring all their profits into the Cayman Islands and instead invest it to improve the city of Freeport. Can't be all gravy for them and nothing for the people who live there.
On Sir Jack in Port sale talks before passing
Posted 29 January 2015, 9:31 a.m. Suggest removal
Islandgirl says...
Yes, Christie. How do you intend to pay for NHI? You are currently raiding the National Insurance Fund for BoB and other unworthy causes, VAT is here and was supposed to be used to pay down our debt but you are talking mess about using it for infrastructure, now NHI? You people cannot manage the public health care system as it is. As a further insult, you parliamentarians either take yourselves to the expensive private hospital on island or to physicians abroad. Yinna don't have to go through what the rest of us do and yet you want to force something like this on us? Why should more of my money be snatched from me to pay for something like that? We barely get what we need through PHA now, and i do not want you making choices for me on my health care! Why are you always looking for ways to sink this country? Scrap that man! Barely making it around here now! Get accountable with BAMSI and other of the country's raped and wasted funds and return all that largesse to the public treasury, make healthy foods affordable, promote exercise heavily and emphasize prevention and thus avoid this nine to ten figure disaster that you are determined to shove down our throats. I and so many others are so sick of the ineptness and lack of accountability your government is. Retire man and call an early election. We need a coalition of business geniuses to run this country, not PLP, FNM or DNA. This crew needs to go tho and now.
On Minnis hits out over Critical Care Block delays
Posted 24 January 2015, 5:34 a.m. Suggest removal
Islandgirl says...
The casual way Roberts brushes MR. Moss aside says so much about what is wrong with this place. These people are so used to victimizing and intimidating people that think they are untouchable. Christie, please do something right for a change and put Roberts out to pasture. The chances of your party continuing to govern past the next elections are slim to none, if all the thinking Bahamians come out to vote. Help the party out and silence this troll.
On PLP chairman brushes off Moss criticism
Posted 15 January 2015, 9:28 a.m. Suggest removal
Islandgirl says...
I agree. While everyone is at the table, try to convince the GBPA to re-invest some of the money they collect off exorbitant business license fees and service charges and use them to re-invest in the development of Freeport rather than stashing it away in the Cayman Islands. I would also recommend they restructure their formula for calculating service charges as they are primarily the cause of the high cost of living in Freeport upon which they base this "formula" and often times services that should be performed are not actually done. Then a landowner is threatened with having their property repossessed for failure to pay these things. Lucayan Estates anyone? How can service charges be levied and you cannot build on the land, and they will not exchange it for an area that you can build in? Add to that a rescinding of their policy to LEASE commercial land to Bahamians rather than selling it to the citizens of the country. What do you think about that? You want to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars improving once vacant land with a high class structure only to have these people come along and take it from you? Does that make any sense, especially with the many square miles of undeveloped land that is there? Allow alternative energy sources rather than threatening people when they try to save themselves from exorbitant power fees by using solar or other means after all, how can you police the power company when you yourself have a huge stake in the tens of millions of dollars they siphon off the masses? Exorbitant is not the word. Businesses, while de-crying VAT should also de-cry all these things. They are but the tip of the iceberg as to why Freeport doesn't prosper and continues to drag along to ghost town status. What a shame.
On Freeport ‘disaster’ if property tax imposed
Posted 10 January 2015, 3:35 p.m. Suggest removal
Islandgirl says...
I really do not care what Roberts' opinion is. It is irrelevant.He is following American political rhetoric with this constant pushing of the "flip flopper" storyline. Be original please. Dr. Minnis is entitled to an opinion, and free to change his mind on issues when certain factors reveal themselves, but I am certain that when it comes down to the nitty gritty, he is more than capable of making an informed, firm decision. He could not have successfully practiced medicine all these years without that particular skill. This governing party, however, is pure smoke screens and mirrors. Roberts, use your loud voice on the issues of crime, making persons who owe long outstanding taxes pay them, ending the corruption that causes our country to stink at every level with nary a hope of moving forward, and stop wasting our time on useless crap like this.
On PLP chairman accuses Minnis of being a flip-flopper over VAT
Posted 7 January 2015, 2:50 p.m. Suggest removal
Islandgirl says...
Always with the familiar, oft used excuse. Can anyone regulate these people? (and don't say the GBPA either. No positive action will happen from that front.)
On Oil prices go down, but fuel surcharge goes up
Posted 20 December 2014, 7:52 p.m. Suggest removal
Islandgirl says...
Unfortunately, the Grand Bahama Port Authority will not do so. What it did instead was link the business person's current status, in essence their being up to date with payments, to getting a business licence number in order to register for VAT and obtain a TIN number, as the government has demanded. Also, rather than educating their licensees on VAT and what it means in the city of Freeport, they chose instead to conduct sessions that attendees had to pay for. It was another means of siphoning money off the masses. They know, and the government knows, that this taxation has no place in Freeport because of the HCA; in fact, for the 150 to 200 million dollars in taxes collected from Freeport each year and absconded by the capital, very little is sent or done in return. The government figures "The Port will take care of it"(and they have the audacity to imply that Freeport "is always begging" when it asks for the assistance to which it is entitled as a part of the country and for the huge amounts of cash that the government relieves it of!); the port thinks "well the government is collecting, so they will take care of it" (in the meantime they are killing the populace with ridiculous business license and service charges fees and horrendous power bills; the power company by itself looms large over the sheer number of closed businesses on the island) and the result is the ghost town on Grand Bahama. The place is dismal and it is disgraceful what has been allowed to happen there. Greed and selfishness abound and there is no accountability at any level. Every time a government person gets on the media and brags about how well Freeport and Grand Bahama Island is doing, I really have to wonder which flicking planet they are on. They probably are doing well, and we are all still waiting for them to declare their assets. I would love to measure up how their fortunes have changed since the last election. How about some real investigative journalism here? In any case, I doubt any defense of the licensees will be forth coming. It should have been done long before now. You think this are rough now? The government is going to plant its big worthless backside on top of us and make life even more unbearable. The tsunami that is VAT is on our door step. May God help us all.
On Unresolved VAT issues branded 'incredible'
Posted 19 December 2014, 6:51 a.m. Suggest removal
Islandgirl says...
With all the threats you people were issuing, did you expect anything different minister? No one is in a rush to hasten the demise of our country. These businesses certainly aren't. No where in the Caribbean where this garbage was forced on the citizenry has the very awful tax been successful. All those countries are sinking and even with knowing this, you forced this on us. Garbage and filth. Collect the taxes you all are already due and stop giving your friends family sweetheart and nation of offspring passes that none of the rest of us get. Better educate the populace and cut the cabinet and civil service. We are being made to suffer further for foolishness done by government over the last forty plus years, the worst being the administrations of 2002-2007 and currently. People can barely afford to live in this ridiculously expensive place now and you are going to further the pain by putting this on us? Early election please and I hope only informed voters are allowed to cast votes. Some of the people who actually do and are bussed in to vote are a scary lot; they control all our future and destinies and have no clue as to the state of the nation, what is going on in the country and the consequences of voting in exchange for a favor. Disgraceful and horrific.
On 5,000 companies signed up for VAT
Posted 14 December 2014, 6:14 a.m. Suggest removal
Islandgirl says...
Mr. Smith, please take all that passion and energy and use it to fight the GBPA on Grand Bahamians' behalf. They have abused the people there for numerous years and have more than earned returns on their initial investment. To just willy nilly charge fees upon fees for things not being done (see Lucayan Estates), business licenses and just allowing the power company to literally leave people in darkness and shut down businesses due to those outrageous bills while using duty free fuel is just unacceptable. While they live a life of luxury, the populace suffers as they are just a means to feed that high end life style. That needs to be your focus. Help Freeport to grow the way that it is supposed to. You cannot justify these illegal people breaking the laws of the land nor agree to the disintegration of our culture and sovereignty due to our being out-bred by these persons from Hispaniola. They have their own country that they can do that in.
On Immigration policy to be challenged in court
Posted 2 December 2014, 4:15 p.m. Suggest removal