The reminder by an earlier commenter is correct; VAT was supposed to be accompanied by reduction in Customs Duties. Unfortunately governments are fiscally greedy and rarely like to give up existing taxes. However, as per recommendations by the New Zealand VAT Consultant, Dr. Brash, and the data from that country as well as other nations who instituted VAT/GST’s, is that other taxes should be reduced substantially or eliminated. VAT Collections have been better than expected. The Bahamian government owes it to the populace to lower other forms of taxation, especially Customs Duty.

Given our predicament of being a substantial net importer of goods, Customs duties can be a great way to use government policy to control our fate, putting the brakes on items that are bad for our environment, health, crime, agriculture and local businesses. While promoting those things that will encourage entrepreneurship and development in the Bahamas.

Let’s use our brains; consult widely and create a ‘White Paper’ that moves us forward.

It would be interesting to know what were the motivations and thought processes of Mr. Smith and his fellow delegates to the “1972 Constitutional” discussions? Certainly viewing through hindsight the resultant constitution, especially with regards to granting of citizenship, has been problematic to the modern day Bahamas. There are now obvious anti-woman, anti-dad and xenophobic consequences written into that document. Indeed changing these and other constitutional guarantees, by nature of ‘referenda’ is difficult. While referenda resists changes by whim and fancy of subsequent governments it also results in the persistence of recalcitrant ignorance and discrimination.

Doing nothing means these negative consequences persist through generations. I suspect the better and certainly the less problematic process is for the present government to fix these and other issues through legislation, even if someday a despot leadership changes it. What is true in the history of humanity, especially those who reside in civil society, is a ‘right’ given is not easily taken away! When government is bold and willing to lead in a bipartisan fashion great policies can be established which are more likely to be embraced, popular and stand the ‘test of time’. The interesting byproduct of this type of governance is the great importance given to elections, voting and involvement in civil society.

Mr. Morley raises interesting points. His “10% accuracy” number given the limited ‘n’ of his ‘study’ may not reflect the entire deficiency of the Inland Revenue assessment, however the “90” claim is clearly ridiculous. It’s likely the level of accuracy promised by the agency doing this Island wide evaluation (Tyler Technologies) would not have promised such a high number. Their evaluations would have been based on estimates (and guesses) especially given the economic upheaval of the Covid pandemic.
Real property taxes for commercial real estate is a vexing problem as not all ‘commercial’ properties ‘sell’ stuff that VAT can be used to estimate. Government already has the value of their ‘rent’ included in their Business Tax statements. ‘Rent’ is not necessarily affected by one’s neighborhood given the esthetics of one building over the other. Whatever formulation the government decides to use they need to be considerate of the role businesses play in the economic well-being of the country and not ‘bite the hands’ that feed it!
As for residential real property tax, government should be reminded that though easier to assess and enforce than many other forms of taxation, ones home is not income generating, and largely a fixed place of abode in the Bahamas (a “forever home”). As such those folks on fixed incomes (the majority of the population) and especially retirees are easily pushed into financial hardship with overzealous rates. Governments need to ‘budget’, and for a country entering its fifth decade, show the maturity of reaching across the aisle to craft budgets that will reflect our realities over successive administrations.

The Bahamian authorities never seem to take human smuggling seriously.

We rarely if ever arrest and charge the ‘boat captain’ even when vessels are caught on the high seas, which may lead to further investigations of the whole enterprise.

As this editorial suggests, this is a multinational problem that requires cooperation at that level, however that does not absolve our National Security enterprise from investigating and prosecuting these bandits…shame on us!

“Marijuana”, when are we going to have the change in legislation that decriminalizes this drug and takes it out of the hands of criminals (or folks who we turn into criminals)?! I’m sure we have some potential and budding entrepreneurs who can be the next “Numbers tycoons”…

I am at a lost as to how the RBDF or our Immigration authorities can ever get a handle on people smugglers if said smugglers are alarmist never identified or prosecuted?!

The fact that we can tell who these folks are when drug smuggling is involved speaks volumes about our officials concern about ‘human life’; which appears to mean nothing if it involves our brothers & sisters from the historical and literal cousin island of Aiyti.

Medical schools are not “investment opportunities”!

The Bahamas should avoid the battle within American medical education that rages between ‘off shore’ versus US based and accredited medical institutions; this is an American issue that needs to be solved by American political and education policy makers. We should not be participants in the traumatic experiences of these young (and not so young) peoples’ lives for what amounts to profits from the operators of these ‘schools’. Don’t be fooled by the vailed enticement of “educational opportunities for Bahamians”, who still must seek authorization and licensure from Bahamian medical statutory bodies to ensure they meet existing standards and a guarded and reluctant US medical system wary of admittance for further training. Nor should you accept the premise that medical trainees are a benefit to the healthcare of Grand Bahamians; there are even now few educational positions available to Bahamian junior doctors who have already qualified…overall a bad idea.

Interesting; now if we can upgrade our educational system to be good or great to truly give our young women & men opportunities then we’ll be ‘sayin sum ting’.

Reading many of the comments here in one of the country’s leading news organizations is quite distressing. What more can these young well trained and respected health professionals say and be taken seriously as purveyors of ‘truth’?! Observing that they are the same ‘names’ that usually write denials makes me hopeful that they represent a diminishing minority of both Covid Deniers and anti-Vaxers? Let’s ‘pray’ that it is so.

For everyone else please listen to these professionals, inform yourself from other reputable sources and weigh the ‘risks’, because the newer and more deadlier variants have definitely changed the equation. Additionally one has to consider the state of the country’s healthcare facilities (both public and private) as well as the ability of the healthcare professionals to look after YOU given the strain this pandemic has added to their workload and their physical and mental well-being.

Knowledge is power; use it wisely.

I’m no lawyer, but I am a Bahamian with no where else to decamp to when our economy tanks.

We’re already on an advisory list warning our visitors about Covid (and crime). So when we continue to show significant Covid cases & deaths and our life blood (tourism) is ruined by Bahamians, including “line staff”, passing Covid to our guests…we will all suffer the consequences…

We all need to be a bit more selfless and weigh risks vs benefit for everything we do, not just Covid/vaccines and money.