VAT is a tax Trojan Horse which should never have been allowed to be implemented. Its tentacles touch every single economic trade which occurs in the country no matter how small. It gives the government incredible insight into the economy, massively reduces privacy and is open to abuse.

With over $600 million raised per annum it essentially eliminates the governments need for enhance internal controls, transparency or cost containment. Before a good or service reaches the end consumer VAT has been applied multiple times. Businesses are experiencing problems getting refunds from the Government as detailed in the article.

It also allows the government to increase the tax from 7.5% to 10% to 14% as the deficit continues to grow as VAT is not directly applied to the deficit and we have nothing to show for the massive tax increase. The roads are still poor, the national school average remains a D, crime is still out of control and the Auditor General continues to expose horrendous amounts of missing funds in government agencies. No one has or will change, no one will be prosecuted and no one in government is listening to the people. Why should they? Government is big business.

So exactly what is the growth rate? -1.7? (last year) 0.5%? (this year) 1.5% (IMF)?

The answer is we don't have a clue except it's probably negative.

http://tribune242.com/users/photos/2016…

Very good point John. I've attached a graph of a representative Puerto Rico Government Bond which shows that the prices declined from 100 cents on the dollar to 60 cents on the dollar and they have stopped paying on the debt.

I would suggest that the Bahamian government devalue the currency while they still have time. All of the B$ debt is owed to Bahamians so it would not impact foreigners, which seems to be all we care about these days.

Moving into election mode the government will now need to inject a lot of debt spending into the economy to secure another 5 year term. They have a good chance of winning as the opposition is in disarray.

VAT has caused a spike in Bahamian inflation which Bahamian are cutting expenditures where they can to balance their personal budgets.

Not sure the government can afford or has credit to buy gas for the new boats.

fred ga say dey mess'in wit we sovereignty and he parliamentary privilege, as da law don't apply to plp

even da chinesse dem slow'in down dey investments

...how boring, any word from Toggie and Bobo?

....how boring, anything new from Toggie and Bobo?

The tens of millions of dollars will be spent by Cable Bahamas, NewCo and the Bahamian government building out Cable Bahamas cell infrastructure, This is a terrible mis-allocation of the Bahamian peoples capital caused by a misunderstanding of the rapid rate of change in technology.

In 3 years, once the cell phone infrastructure is built out cell phones will certainly be obsolete. See link to article:

http://fortune.com/2016/01/08/facebook-…

Cable is a private company so if they want to invest in obsolete technology then its their business and the business of its shareholders and directors.

Unfortunately, like Cuba, the Bahamas government has taken the position that it must own 51% of all last century utility/infrastructure companies such as water, sewerage, electricity, telephone, cell, carbon fuel, aviation and waste disposal. If we add up the losses of all of these public companies over the decades it would probably be well over a billion dollars. The damage to our environment and the health of our citizens is incalculable.

Why is it going to be different with the government's ownership of 51% of Cable Bahamas' cell phone venture.