"This was because the Bahamian renewable energy market is still developing, with demand still inconsistent, and below $100,000 providers will not have to charge consumers VAT."

Providers below the threshold and non registered will still have to pay VAT however, @ point of import and will pay VAT on locally sourced goods and services.
While not recoverable, it will still add to cost and is supposedly prohibited from being recovered via price mark up. How the hell that will work.........

Should we not also go after the Africans who sold their brothers into Slavery?
Oh, they have no money to sue for.........
Slavery was, and still is a human disgrace,
almost every race a some point or the other has been enslaved,
Slavery still exists today.
As to the modern day Bahamas,
What better way to control your slaves than to have them believe they are free?
Couldn't possibly be that those who claimed to have freed us,
have also in turn enslaved us?

Yep, and in turn, the Brits should go after the Romans.
Where does this come from?
Bureaucratic boondoggles trying to make $$ from nothing!
And if monetary award was made? to whom?
Direct descendants of Slaves, or to their current masters (Governments)?

Why single out the merchants?
If one is addressing fraud, dishonesty, theft, one could be talking about anyone from any walk of life, especially in the Bahamas, local or foreign.
Individuals should be held accountable for their actions, period.
Politicians especially.
In any case, the merchants are the meat and potatoes of the economy,
hence the want and need to tax them.
You can tax the poor man,
but he has not much to give!

Anyone who has ever tried to have an intelligent, rational conversation with Bahamas customs senior officers would sensibly be quite concerned with expansion of their arbitrary power so uncoupled from intelligence or rule of law.
Implementing a first world record keeping TAX such as VAT in a country devoid of a record keeping population is asking for trouble.

As a forensic accountant, he certainly stands to make money "auditing" either for Government or an unfortunate business owner.
Most accountants who are under-employed are no doubt anticipating increased business.
One only has to look at the newspapers over the last 10 years, many announcements of this certificate or that qualification, all geared to the foreseeable and now impending "First world"
fiscal reporting requirements.

The barber shop example not being a VAT registrant, cannot charge VAT on services, but will pay VAT on supplies and services they use.
The Barber shop can voluntarily become a VAT registrant, in order to Charge VAT and then be able to claim back VAT credit against VAT paid on supplies and services used.

As to the article subject, the Government "bonded warehouse" facility assumes 100% inventory turn over in a 90 day period, very unlikely in the Bahamas in part due to shipping lead times and shipment consolidation.
Most Merchants operate on the Mercantile system, buy bulk for price benefits, warehouse it, it will sell eventually.
The U.S. and most sales/VAT tax jurisdictions moved decades ago to Just in time Inventory, and efficiency of order point logistics.
Being a relatively small Consumer nation, minimum order values from manufacturers usually force most businesses into the middle man supplier for smaller quantities, including the seconds market for textiles.

There is much information needed by but not available to the IMF, Government, and proponents of VAT.
VAT gives them total overview of the domestic economy, drilling down to fine detail,
allowing assessment for other forms of taxation. (Income, Corp, Personal, Bus, etc)

As if we should be surprised, afterall, you are there demolishing their homes!
No matter how small, run down or improperly built,
it is a persons home.
Where are they to go now?
Is the Government putting them up in alternate accommodations, or leaving them to find their own shelter?
Disgraceful really.

Of course it will go into the Consolidated fund,
how else will they use it for free healthcare, mortgage relief, subsidies for the poor affected by VAT, etc etc.
Paying down the National debt is the primary lie.
It will never happen.
Also, even the IMF says that revenue will be down for 5 years or so.
Meanwhile businesses will close, belts will tighten, revenue gets the double hit.
In comes income tax to the rescue!
People need to realize Governments the world over have been considering citizens income as their own, ever encroaching on and borrowing against.
and now they need it for their own purposes, and have convinced themselves that it is their to take.

"The general consensus is that a lack of control of spending over the years has put them in a position where they have had to take fairly drastic measures to bring their financial situation back in order".

Yep, pretty much sums up the Bahamas!
If anything, we are worse off as we started from a much better position, and frittered away
our fortunes!

Ministry of finance officials despite the shifting political winds have one thing in mind:
Get more money, and keep the political monkey off their backs!