Hutchinson only refurbed the old Holiday inn and strip as a favor to H.A.I. in exchange for his rubber stamp on the Hutchinson Port sale and harbor/airport sale. Short sighted as hell.
How is a government gonna pressure an entity with global Net profits greater than the Bahamas entire GDP?
As always, the people pay for the folly of arrogant/ignorant asses.
Granting hutchinson and the Port a blanket 20 year exemption was the move of a capitulant Government. Jackasses don't even understand Freeport, never mind know how to deal with it.

Ok,so they are all chiming in, one after the other. But which among them will follow thru?
I will be pleased of they do, but not surprised of they don't.
Getting the $$ back would be nice, but shaming and incarcerating them even better......
In every country there is some darkness in its history,
we seem to relish reliving/repeating ours endlessly.......

Bahamians a few years ago were spending $2.11Bn. in Florida annually, and that doesn't include some of the major retailers who spend in other states. This is cash and carry business, with U.S. suppliers at most sending it to a dock.
This is being greatly eroded by Bahamian retail shop sourcing in Panama, China direct, and other countries, and eroded by amazon and other online venues.
The retailer still sourcing in Florida is carrying a disadvantage that will only get bigger.
Locally operation costs are greater, more punitive, union agitation unpredictable, Government rules erratic. Flat duty rates of 8-10% across the board (as required by 2025 under WTO) will help, but all nonsensical crap has to stop also. Alternate energy is one major gate that aught to be opened wide. (per code standards, not by BEC/BPL "requirements)
Business license tax by net, not Gross. Real property tax across the board, Bahamian and foreigner alike (coming anyway, per WTO requirements)
And yes, even income tax will happen corp. and personal.
And here we are bitching about sugar water.

Perhaps a noble goal, but how does one stop "Local Government" from running along the same lines as our National politics? between the tribal PLP/FNM structures and the endless Conflicts of interest and personal profit?
The outright lack of public service mindedness?
Political parties push and even fund "their man" so the petty contracts can be proffered to their people.
It is endless in this country, the above would require such a change of mindset as to be beyond
possibility.
Penalties for wrong doing while on the books have never ever been applied against the obviously corrupt, so writing more laws won't mean anything.

Where there is smoke, there is fire, but it is high time to see the charred embers and results of the treasury funds burning.
Name names, prosecute the guilty, return the money from graft, kickbacks, padded contracts.
Use some of it to build a jail. A special jail for those who betray the public trust.

Hammer the guy all ya want, he has inherited a cluster f&*% which has taken 50 years to create.
You want efficiency? Cost competitiveness? Where will the pressure to create it come from?
Too many Bahamian businesses are successful in spite of themselves, in spite of their high markups, most needed to combat theft, spoilage, high labour, utility, insurance and debt service costs etc.
Sad how we want everything to get better, but want nothing to change.
Sad how we want to clean up Bay street, but discard garbage faster there than it can be picked up.
Sad how we want Jobs for Bahamians, but love paying the Haitians way less.
The IMF wants lower civil service costs, but the last guys piled useless people on right up to the election. How can that work? I am starting to believe Bahamians are willfully ignorant of the harsh realities just over the horizon, which will certainly "reset" the expectations level to zero.
Wait til a gallon of milk cost ya B$ 750.00, which you'll pay, cause you won't have access to US$ 9, cause the Government will take every US penny it can take (from tourists) to cover national fuel oil costs. Medicine costs. basic bulk grits imports, debt service.

Love it that the "drinks industry" seems completely oblivious to the Required and Agreed upon Elimination of duty rates across the board with respect of WTO Accession and agreed upon time tables as negotiated by both PLP and FNM Governments.
This administration is doing what has been long agreed must be done.
Why do you think VAT was installed? for popularity? The VAT can was kicked down the road due to political fear for almost a decade. Finally done in 2015.
It is in place to replace duty as the #1 revenue source for the Treasury. (along with other agreed timetables for Real Property tax, Income, etc etc) If there is any slight here it is that Bahamians have been treated like mushrooms for decades by all administrations.

More for theft prevention, of Tax free materials being removed from the Port Area.
No, Freeport was not built with Bahamians in mind, true enough, however who, Bahamians or foreigner alike builds anything but for themselves or their profit and benefit?
In that there is no difference between Bahamian or foreigner!
Especially Pindling. Who you think taught all those who have come after him and his crew?
Name me one selfless profitless action by any of them?

On that you are right Tal, a scam perpetrated by Bahamians, against Bahamians.
And you're worried about a fictional gate?
Let's face it, apparently Bahamians either have no vision, or have had any vision they may have had beaten out of them or stopped/prevented by none other than their own so called leadership. No one screws a Bahamian better than a Bahamian.
Add to that the right to avoid bills and not live up to obligations across the board........

Another historical falsehood Tal, the security gate a the western border of Freeport was a Customs checkpoint, to prevent Duty Free Materials "escaping" the confines of the Port area.
(put in place to curtail what was happening often)
Be aware the "Victor" writes (or re-writes) history to suit their purposes, something the PLP has done much of.
Duty Free Shopping is nonsense, in that the rest of the world has far greater purchasing power than the Bahamas, Tax advantages, not just tax exemptions and online shopping with same day delivery. Gone are the fine linens,(from England) Watches (from Switzerland) liquors (from everywhere EXCEPT here).
Hate to say it but seems we're in for more of the same lame lack of competence, but perhaps without the wholesale tiefing.