Only an idiot will not realize that the transition quarter from a 7.5% VAT to a 12% VAT will garnish more revenue for the government than an ordinary quarter. First off both the merchants aand consumers were caught off guard with the, almost instant, increase in VAT. So customers did not have time to adjust their buying habits (stocking up was not practical), and merchants did not have time to reduce their inventories of VAT items that were rated at 7.5%.. So government realized a windfall on all the inventory that merchants paid only a 7.5% on but had to submit returns to the government at 12%. Rupert Roberts acknowledged this when he did his first return, post VAT increase and realized the reduction was not as great as he expected after the bread basket items were zeroed out. And now that merchants (probably with the exception of food stores and restaurants are replenishing their inventory (that they will sell over the next 60-120 days) at 12% government is still realizing an increase in vat returns. But the taste of the pudding will be in March of 2019 when all the adjustments have been made and the effects can be felt. If there is no real growth in the economy, government may realize a fall in VAT revenue. If the size of the (economic) pie remains the same but government is taking a larger chunk (12% as opposed to 7.5%) of it, it means that someone else will be getting less. And it may mean the economy may shrink if no new money is injected. Consumers still have to pay electricity bills and other bills that is now costing them 4 1/2% more. If there is no salary increases their disposable income is less and so they will spend less simply because they have less to spend. So now government ust come up with ways to grow the economy. The more people working, they more persons paying taxes and the more revenue for government. But the real and true effects of the VAT increase will be felt by mid 2019. And if the NHI tax is put into effect, all other things being the same, this will definitely create a reduction in VAT revenue.

***"The items likely to be removed from the breadbasket list are margarine, mayonnaise, corned beef, canned meats, canned soups, broths, condensed milk and sugar. Those likely to be included are beans and peas, raw almonds, raw cashews, fresh oranges, fresh apples, root crops and oatmeal, as well as tuna, sardine and mackerel canned in water."***

Breadbasket items do not all have to be healthy, but should be affordable, available and something that the majority will consume when nothing else is available. One may not eat corned beef everyday, but after a hurricane and the power was off for three days it would taste like caviar. And even when someone cannot afford fresh meat, steamed corned beef can t least satisfy the pallet. The worst thing this inexperienced government can do is remove everything an average Bahamian uses on a regular basis for items that only a select few, who can afford those items VAT included. So you actually stealing away the benefits of the average Bahamians to bread basket items. And any half sensible diet specialist will tell you that persons do not change their diets and eating habits overnight. And to do so can be more harmful than to continue eating 'unhealthy foods.'
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**"two percent soy and almond fresh milk"**
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And there are "professionals' out there advising persons NOT to drink soy milk or use any SOY products as it can lead to instant and permanent sterility in young males. And as you may know soybeans are a filler in most of the fast food burgers.
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."“*When women consume whole milk products, they are more fertile and more likely to conceive and less likely to have what's called ovulatory infertility, the most common cause of infertility, than when they do non- or low-fat,*” says Dr. Maizes.May 22, 2013

I guess they calling this nurses week. Hope they get it sort out. There is so much room for compromise and accommodation rather than making the nurses look like a rowdy bunch who are ungrateful and difficult to manage.

In this Bahamas, barely 50 percent of what government collects reaches what is collected for. So they say a private company will come in to manage the scheme. So will this company also grow into an oversized dinosaur , like NIB and gobble up all the funds or will it be another Clico and jump ship with the people’s money? And what about employers? Exactly how much must they contribute and how many companies can really afford a new tax? And how will companies that already have full coverage insurance for their employees fit in? Most insurance today refuse to pay benefits that are covered by another insurance company. And how will Minnis and Sands and other persons in the government , who have interest in health care facilities be dealt with. Will it be similar to the Town Center Mall fiasco, where Minnis will make the decision and tell the Bahamian public to like it or lump it? Some type of national insurance plan is good, but it must be affordable and workable. No Bahamian will deny that.

Well even at 6% government collects twice as much VAT on Top Up than the merchants make in commissions

One of the biggest problems with this government is they seem to want to run the country out of a cigar box. And even the the few things they have done are not reaching the masses but benefiting the chosen (or selected) few. For example government claims it removed customs duties off clothing and shoes. But rather than removing the duty off these items across the board, like they did with washing machines and dryers, and with airplane and helicopter parts, they set up a system of bureaucracy where one must go in and bow each time you have a shipment come in, to get the exemption. And they require that you be current with your taxes. among other things. Is this really legal, even to charge the one set of merchants who must pay the same business license and other taxes and not charge the others? So rather than this initiative driving the economy across the board and reduce the number of persons travelling abroad to shop, it has caused a fierce battle among merchants and driving more nails into the coffins of struggling merchants for whom this could have been a life line and save them from drowning. So will Marlon Johnson leave the Ministry of Finance in the same disarray he left BTC in, where he have merchants selling Top Up for 3% and losing the shirts on their backs? Imagine that. When you go in a store to buy Top Up, only 3 cents of every dollar goes to the merchant, the rest goes to BTC!. And then there was the Top Up that went missing from BTC, lots of it. And so the same the same is happening with the Inner city project. The intent was supposed to be to help inner city residents and businesses. But again the requirements of the government are too stringent..and stupidly so. Again they want businesses to be current with all their taxes and residents to be current with their property taxes...And the worst about this is some of the tax billings for these properties are not current. Many of the buildings are delipidated and uninhabitable. But this is not reflected in the taxes. Many of the homeowners have reached the age of retirement, but are still being billed because they were never informed that they become property tax exempt for their dwelling home when they reach retirement age. Pettiness and lack of experience killing this government and the economy. Dead.

The liberalization of women in the Bahamas started back in the early 60’s. Many worked in the public sector but were limited in their capacity to advance beyond certain levels and in certain fields. At one point most of the bank tellers and school teachers were male. And those fields moved from male dominated, to female dominated to female careers, where males who enter are considered imposters and must now fight to retain his post. Then another movement started back in the 70’s where women not came out of the home by way of divorce or separation from their husbands , but many decided to set up single parent homes, So not only were they career women, but also heads of households. And they wanted to ensure the power of the female was carried on. And so many chose to send their daughters to college, either home or abroad and send their sons to work at the gas station or to do construction. And he had to help pay for his sister’s education, because according to the mother, ‘I don’t want no man taking advantage of my daughter and I don’t want her having difficult like me.’ So women became empowered almost overnight while the young males were thrown to the dogs (raiders, gun hawks, Nike dogs, Mason Murderers). And then there were those boys who were tied to their mummy’s apron string. They were pampered and given a good life, allowed to go off to school even. But they are no match for the newly empowered female. So now it is not unusual to see highly educated and qualified women living with the type of men her mother despised, having children for him even. And the educated young male chose to be alone or take his chance with the lesser educated, but street smart jungulist.

Bey election seem to be so far, far away ay..2019, 2020, 2021,,,2022!

Do we owe the dead respect, even if we disagreed with them profoundly, even if we were harmed by them in some way, even if we think that their influence on their times was largely negative, and their legacy damaging?
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Margret Thatcher: *Respect for the dead is an outdated and foolish principle
Let us say what we think, and be frank about it: death does not confer privilege*
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But bad taste and false comparisons aside, the question remains: must we respect the newly dead merely in virtue of their being dead? We might be mindful of the grief of family and friends, but still feel that a judgement about the life and legacy of a prominent individual should be an honest one.

Eccliasties 9;5 says: "
*For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing, and they have no more reward, for the memory of them is forgotten.* So whom is being attacked when you attack the dead. Some call it throwing cowardly blows on some one who cannot fight back. (Unless they "hag" you while you sleep). Others feel it is an assault on the family and friends who are left behind and even as they mourn and try to cope with their loss.

About a decade ago when gang warfare was at its height, Thugs rushed into the church where the funeral of an opposing gang member was being held. And they proceeded to attack the dead corpse, stabbing it up and otherwise assaulting it while desecrating the church. Friends and family who had gathered for the funeral stood on and watched in horror, shock and definite fear. Then more recent that than, two brothers were ambushed and shot up at the junction of Prince Charles and Soldier Road. They were leaving the funeral of another brother who had also been shot and killed and was the third or fourth murder victim of that same family. And how many have attended funerals when fights broke out in the graveyard or gunshots rang out or grieving friends rushed to the grave site and soaked the casket with Hennessy or some other spirit after it was committed to the earth by a man of the cloth. And who has been advise to leave the graveyard because the funeral of a gang member was about to take place.
The dead knows nothing, not even his was back to his own house. But what about the living? We are still responsible for our actions, yes.
"Corinthians 15:54-56
When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.” “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?”"

The Chipmans also owned the piece across from Adastra Gardens with the ‘pink’ building on it. It is claimed that the UBP government took the land from H.N Chapman, but never put it to use. So while some are allowed to Hogg up everything, others are being stripped of their birthright. Many of the lawyers who knew how to make land papers disappear or reappear in their clients ( or a family member or close friend) name are now dead or retired. But no government wants to fix the quieting titles act.. Why?