The sh!t that many don't realize is they have mostly white, foreign guys running the Department of Inland Revenue already. And more likely than not they are planted by the feds to see exactly what is going on in this country and who owns what. They call you in saying," Mr John Doe, we have six pieces of property listed in your name. Can you please come in to verify that they are yours." And when you go in they never had six properties listed in your name but they now want copies of your passport and national insurance card. Then they begin to hassle you to pay any back taxes you may owe. So now they maybe are setting up a system to garnish your wages of bank accounts for back taxes. And their system is so out of date, many of the properties they have listed, especially in the inner city, no longer have structures on them or the buildings are delapidated and uninhabitable. And this will be a major problem the government will face when it tries to revive these areas. And if if any form of income taxes, corporate or otherwise, it will have to be a replacement tax and not a new tax. When VAT was introduced it was suppose to replace customs duties and stamp taxes and those taxes were to be eliminated completely. They were considered to be barriers to international trade. But the government chose to collect customs duties,and stamp tax in addition to the VAT. This pushed many Bahamians below the poverty line. It caused many businesses to become unprofitable and others to become insolvent. The main reason being that the cost of carrying inventory is too high. Another reason is because of our proximity to the US market and the ease of shopping online the tax loaded prices in The Bahamas cannot compete. And many businesses that did not properly adjust their prices found that they could not cover their overhead. More than half an average Bahamian's income already goes to government in some form of tax or fees. To increase that burden with another tax will create a nation of homeless people who cannot even afford to feed themselves.

This is a very serious playing with numbers. The true picture is that visitor arrivals were down in October 2016, because of the hurricane hitting and the country being shut down. The visitor have now returned to what is normal for October of with a slight increase but now 30 percent. So don't rush around trying to rent one taxi plate. But the numbers may be up significantly in January and February as some forecasters expect this to be a colder than average winter in the USA and parts of Europe.

If crime and especially murders would have stopped completely this soon after the change of the minister of national security and the commissioner of police then there would have to be an investigation into the competency of the persons who previously held these posts. But obviously some progress is being made in the war against crime. Murders are definitely down. And apparently the police crackdown on gangs and gang activity has caused a shift in crime where armed robberies have become more prevalent as criminal gang members, who apparently benefited from gang activity, now turn to robberies as a source of income. The police must now continue to put pressure on gangs until they disband while at the same time make every effort to catch armed robbers. The public also has to do its part and be vigilant, especially at this time of the year when everyone is looking for Christmas money.

Well Cable Bahamas never fulfilled its promise, no legal obligation, to have cable in all the islands in 10 years. Yet they were allowed to bid for and receive the license for the second phone company in the country. And again they seem to have gone cherry picking on which islands they will provide telephone services. In fact they are spending most of their time and resources battling with BTC for customers. And while this price war may be beneficial to consumers in the short run, the country can easily end up with two cast strapped dinosaurs. The parent companies of both Aliv and BTC claim that their operating expenses are out of line with the rest of the companies. And even though Aliv has managed to grab near 90,000 customers over the past year, it’s revenue is millions below what was projected. And if the Minnis government keeps its promise to provide free wi go to all the inner cities, this will drastically affect both BTC and Aliv’s bottom line. Then look what is happening with RBC...apparently it intends to tur most of its full service branches into ATM stations..This will not only result in many jobs being lost but great inconvenience for the public. According to persons who use atms now, most of them go down over the weekend. Since they are not serviced after Friday many runs out of money.

When you look at the condition the roads are in on New Providence you really have to wonder what is going on in this country There are craters 2 feet deep and some as wide as the road itself. No wonder every vehicle on the street is rattling like a box of empty cans. And traffic signals are being knocked down and not working. And some say things are even worse on some Family Islands. So is government is failing to maintain basic general infrastructure then imagine the conditions of things less obvious. But in the main time one has to wonder how is it that government has to spend so much on the tourist product and even other very profitable private ventures but get so very little in return. Just drive around the island and look at the number of houses and even businesses that are falling apart, some beyond repair. The site is truly depressing but it tells the deeper story of how much Bahamians are hurting and how many are suffering. How long O Lord, how long.

no outside toilets by 2025...History repeating itself? Remember back in the and early 90's when the government started taking landlords to court for not having running water and flushing toilets on their properties. Well some landlords attempted to comply only to find they got hit water bills from water and sewerage for thousands of dollars. Some put in electric pumps only to find that the entire neighborhood was using their facilities or the equipment was eventually stolen. So many of the landlords abandoned their properties or pushed down whatever structures were on them to avoid being taken to court. The point is government must go in with a partnering mindset and realize that many landowners may not have the means to bring their properties up to standard, without some assistance.

Haiti is not poor. It’s just an unfair distribution of wealth. When it was discovered that Haiti has oil deposits similar to those in the Bahamas, the US sent 20,000 troops to that nation. More than 5 times the number it sent after Haiti suffered from the last earthquake. And while The Bahamas may never have been a part of Haiti as a nation, Haitians have always been a part of the Bahamas. Yet we scorn them. And ignorance many thousands of Bahamians sat idle while thousands of less skilled and qualified Chinese came from all the way on the other side of the world to do the .work. The diaspora continues

The Mad Hatter:

> I was told by someone "in the know" that the Bahamas historically used to be a part of Haiti.

well looks like all the clowns are coming out of the woodwork today. Never in History has it been recorded that Haiti was ever a part of the Bahamas of vice versa. Yes the two countries have long and deep historical ties as Haiti was one of the first free countries in the Caribbean post slavery. It managed to build a strong and independent economy and attempted to buy its independence from France. However as was always done with black people France 'swing' Haiti. After it made the agreement with Haiti it also made all the other countries of the free world to NOT trade with Haiti else face the consequences. So Haiti became a nation unto itself and its economy collapsed. It continues to be among the poorest countries in the world today.

birdiestrachan:
"

> they are smarter than many Bahamians"
> "

."
Why do you take every opportunity to bash Bahamians? If the situation was not such an unfortunate and distressful situation for the family,one would suggest maybe immigration needs to send you off to a strange land for a while, just so you can appreciate Bahamians and this country more

sounds like you need to go back to some of those other countries (at least one) since you have so many issues in the Bahamas and especially with Bahamians..bye bye!