Hi Norman, you certainly make valid points. However, think about this one: if the tax rate in the Bahamas was the same as in the USA, would a single foreigner live here or would they all move to the Florida Keys (just an example)? What are the comparative advantages of the Bahamas? Good governance? Rule of Law? Low crime? Cheap prices? Cheap real estate? A good business climate? On any comparison metric you care to mention, we are so far behind the USA that it is not even funny. It is just tragic how bad we are. So, now equalize the tax structure and these islands will be quasi-deserts, with no jobs and no hope. You will have your "equality". All will have the same standard of living: the one "enjoyed" by our great grandfathers.

Lets do some maths, shall we:
1. Average Bahamian Income is $21,000. VAT on this is: 21k x 7% = B$1,470 on average per person per year. A "foreigner" will spend 10 times that, no problem. His VAT contribution is thus $14,700.
2. All the "stock market gains" you mention are taxed where they are made. You don't think they are made here, do you? Therefore, simply does not apply. Income tax: the overwhelming majority of "foreigners" do not have the right to work. Therefore what income tax you gonna charge them, brainbox?
3. If it wasn't for the "foreigners" paying their bills on time, BEC, Water, BahamasAir, etc. would be long bankrupt, as Bahamians are notoriously tardy in paying their bills. These institutions are run at massive losses because they are so inefficient, employing 100 people to do the job of 5 in the "first world". Look at average kwh electricity cost in Miami: 7 cents, and they make a profit. Here it is 35 cents and we are still losing money. Enough said.
On top of all that you "forget" that the "foreigners" employ tens of thousands of Bahamians, who would just join the unemployment queue if they were not here. They bring in $100s of millions every year to support their lifestyles. Without that money the B$ would long ago have devalued to 30c US. As it still soon will. But at least we got 20 years of grace.
I am just amazed that they are willing to put up with all the shit we come up with and they don't pack up and leave. Would be no more than we deserve.

Every word of your comment is golden.

I would like to book a room facing the dump. I would prefer to be on one of the higher floors, so I can watch the romantic fire and smell the aroma wafting by properly. Could you please inform me when I will be able to book this dream holiday and how much it will cost me. Really, really cannot wait.

Chucky, you are quite right. A dump in the Bahamas is a liability. In countries with a rule of law, it is an asset.
In normal counties there are heavy fines for illegal dumping and the police actively pursue people who dump illegally, because they do not want to pay the fee associated with using the dump. Here you can just unload your rubbish in any bit of waste ground and drive away, depriving the official dump of revenue it would use to remediate the current situation and/or recycle the material.
Therefore no RFP or anything else will be successful. It will just be a repeat of the Renew Bahamas fiasco. Whichever poor sod wins, will soon find out that he cannot charge a commercial rate as people will just dump unofficially And back to square one.

A couple of observations: after 50 years of screwing up all by ourselves, maybe it is time we stopped even mentioning the British?
Secondly, a tiny nation in numbers, will always be prone to nepotism (and hence corruption) because of the simple math of all being closely related to one another and the family pressures which ensue.
Our biggest problem is a bankrupt, closed economic system which restricts access to risk capital for the vast majority without political connections and therefore perpetuates lack of economic opportunity which leads to under-education, poverty and finally crime.
These divisions by party are perfectly natural in societies which have not developed fair access to risk capital. As long as you cannot make your own way in life, you will cling onto the only way you have of making ends meet: party affiliation and the goodies which may flow from it. A secure job, some kickback, some envelope. A feeling of belonging and that someone is taking care of you, because the opportunity of doing it all by yourself is denied to you. Give Bahamians economic opportunity and they will soar. But that is hardly in the interest of any political party...so don't hold your breath looking for much from them.

People demonstrate outside 10 Downing Street all the time. That is where the Prime Minister lives with his/her family. Nothing odd about it.

I feel for you, I really do. But I would suggest you get some proper legal advice before you waste good money after bad. You might be under the impression that insolvency and bankruptcy laws were violated. They were not. Let me explain:
You are owed money by Sarkis's company, which has no cash or any other assets and an outstanding liability towards Exim Bank, which the mortgage on the property did not cover in its entirety. The Chinese took the property which was collateral for their loan and sold it on. The difference between the loan amount (with all interest, piling up daily) and the sale price is still owed to them.
The Chinese (to appease the Government of the Bahamas, no doubt) then put some money in another entity and BOUGHT the claims of some (Bahamians) but not others (foreign entities & individuals). This is perfectly legal. Hardly moral, but legal. There is no law in this world which stops an unrelated entity from offering to buy some claims and not others. They simply did not offer to buy your claim. Nor do they have a reason to.
Imagine now that Sarkis put some equity into his company. The overwhelming majority of that money would go to Exim Bank, as they are still owed billions. You would get crumbs even under this very unlikely scenario.
What you would need to prove in a Court of Law is collusion between Exim Bank and The Government of the Bahamas to defraud. You would need to prove that the whole construct was agreed upon simply and solely to defraud the foreign workers of outstanding claims. This is near impossible for a number of reasons. The Bahamas could simply refuse to appear before a foreign court. The Chinese would argue, rightly, that they have lost billions. Case dismissed. Take proper advice and only sue if your lawyer will do it on a % of recovered assets, with no retainer.

Legally, if it was an ex-gratia payment by the Chinese, they do get to choose where it goes and who gets it. Basically, it is a discretionary slush fund. But this would mean that ALL the claims (including ones from Bahamians) would still be open, even if they were paid out of the slush fund. That is why they actually BOUGHT the claims from the Bahamians, thus closing them out and transferring those claims to themselves. In future they can write off the claims and have a nice tax loss, which they can invoice to the Government of the Bahamas. Very neatly done. Totally legal, but highly immoral. There again, no one sane comes to the Bahamas looking for morality. The foreign workers have been royally screwed and will never see a penny of their claims, as they are owed money by the original development company which is bankrupt and has negative worth. Move on, don't throw good money after bad trying to sue. Chalk it up to experience. As for Bahamians, they will end up paying the $100m through tax losses over some future period and suffer a further loss of reputation. All in all, a very expensive way to buy a handful of votes.

Running a dump is a very complicated business. Far more complicated than, say, writing computer operating systems or building aircraft. It is a relatively new business, as it has been going on for only about 3000 years. It is quite obviously beyond the intellectual capacity or experience of any local and that should have been clear from the start. We need to put it out to international tender and hope that a Chinese company gets the contract. Cost immaterial.