In terms of economic resilience, we are far from "most countries". Most countries have less than a tenth of the foreign investment per capita than we do. Most countries do not have inflows of FDI measured in the billions in a population of 400,000.

My point is that our domestic economy is artificially subdued by the effects of regressive taxes (which subdue disposable income among the group that does most of the consumer spending). Were this not the case (simply by doing what most other countries do), the effects would be to promote the translation of foreign investment into growth on the domestic side, promoting employment, which is now subdued.

As for debt, this is very easy to calculate. Simply add up the revenues we have forgone by even a low level income tax (say 10% on corporate income and salaries above $100,000) and compare that to accumulated debt. Add to this the effects of a more robust economy that will obviously result from less taxes on poor people and the matter speaks for itself.

My friend, if you don't believe that the Bahamas is a comparatively extremely orderly society, then you need to travel......by which I do not mean to South Florida exclusively.

Default? LOL. Certain people have been promising this for decades, but the notion of it ever happening is laughable. How does a country that can afford not to levy an income tax ever default?

I guess "mismanagement" to you means the pitiful spending (17 percent of GDP) that we afford to our people's needs, rather than the failure to tax the rich, where we stand out like a sore thumb. Go figure.

You are clearly not familiar with the Minsk accords, by which the 2014 (western staged) coup and the ensuing conflict in eastern Ukraine were to be resolved between Russia, Ukraine and the breakaway regions. Ukraine (goaded by its US and European sponsors) has refused to undertake its obligations under the agreements for 8 years and has instead kept up a steady shelling of the eastern regions, which your brainwashing media says absolutely nothing about.
Anyone with a drop of curiosity, who does not wait for big conflagrations and the distorted narratives that the media has scripted in advance for them, will have noted the steady but barely reported (much less sensationalized) western encroachment on Russia's peripheries by use of proxies (Poland, Georgia, Ukraine) that are the target of economic inducements (by the EU) and 'color revolutions' kindled by the likes of Obama and Hilary Clinton in pursuit of a reckless policy of 'containment' and 'regime change' that the senile Mr. Biden even recently blurted out.
If you honestly believe the narrative you are being fed, then that is your prerogative. But apart from resorting to ad hominem attacks, your response does little to shield that narrative from the points made in my letter.

I do not know your age or circumstances, but can assure you that I have a lot more experience with these "wealthy areas our west" having grown up and lived in them since the 1970's (first Prospect Ridge, then Old Fort). Until the middle classes began moving to places like Tropical gardens and the new subdivisions out west, you could hear the crickets as you drove past the airport. The middle class Bahamian is the only reason for the activity you now have in the far west.

I grew up visiting "Lifeless Cay" since childhood, through teens and twenties charging on my dad's account in the club and the place had no life and attracted virtually no commercial activity until very recent years. Now contrast that with Carmichael road, which had no electricity when my grandfather died living there in 1977. Look at it now. Every single major business from Home Fabrics, to J. S. Johnson, to Modernistic Gardens to the 5th Terrace lab to every bank, foodstore and fast food outlet.

The rich are notorious for being miniscule spenders. And it is beyond serious debate that spending by the poor and middle far outstrips them, especially in an economy like ours.

Besides, even if they did spend, this is massively outweighed by the downsides of their being here as residents. Only by taxing luxury property massively and discriminatively can we make any sense of having them here as second home residents.

It is now beyond clear that Bahamian high end real estate is highly demanded and recession proof. Just read the papers. How on earth can we justify tax concessions to attract it, when taxes are the main benefit of having it?

Again, look at West Palm Beach and all the other places that are in the business of luxury real estate.

Ok. Let's test my ignorance then. Where do you base the assertion that wealthy second home residence contribute vastly to our economy by consumption? All of the evidence is that the poor by far the largest consumers and this is clearly demonstrated by anecdotal evidence in The Bahamas. This is why most commercial activity (even owned by wealthy Bahamians) is concentrated adjacent to poor, not wealthy areas. It is also evidenced by the fact that every raise in minimum wages or reduction in consumer taxes quickly enlivens the whole economy.

Besides, any benefit to the economy by the mild consumption by wealthy second home residents would be outbalanced vastly outbalanced by the price inflation that their assault on our available land resources represents. It diminishes the spending power of Bahamian consumers and lowers growth. This is widely accepted economic reality. But if you choose to deal with things emotionally, rather than scientifically, then I guess even a cost-benefit analysis would not satisfy you.

Has a cost-benefit analysis even been done to support the insane policy that our governments have followed since 1992. Or will we wait until the entire middle class is finished and growth gets harder and harder, requiring even more suicidal give-aways and concessions?
It is pure non-sense.

My party? The tribalism is really sad. For the record, I have more family and other connections to the FNM than the PLP. I just know that the FNM is by far the worst at disfiguring this country in favour of the wealthy and slowing its growth and wrecking its middle class by its policies. Not a PLP. Just a patriot, I'm afraid. But think what you like.

"Outside of property tax, there is nothing else to tax" says a person who lives in a land that collects only 18 percent of GDP in taxes (among the lowest on earth) and does not tax income, corporate income, capital gains etc. and stands out among a tiny handful of countries that do not tax them. And which gains ZERO benefit from not taxing them as only monies made in the domestic economy (i.e. Colina, Arawak Homes, J. S. Johnson and local multimillionaires) would be paying. Please, think and read up on our economy before you just engage in reflex. There is no mystery to these things. It is just STUPID policy.

And so they leave......so what?????
Did you not read the remainder of my letter? Their presence here has NO positive effect on balance. Don't confuse "investors" with "foreign residents".

Someone who comes here and buys a house brings very little to the economy, but they drive up costs massively by land-based price inflation that filters through the whole economy.

No sane place on the planet wants rich foreigners to live among them just for the sake of it. Hence there is a direct relationship between HIGH property taxes and places that host them - except the Bahamas!

It's like the Haitian migrants threatening to leave. The only difference is that the Haitian migrants do NOT price us out of land and play an important role in our economy that benefits most Bahamians.

You seem to be confusing foreign investors (people who invest in our productive sectors, make their money off foreigners and don't live here) with an activity (high end real estate) that benefits only people like me (a land lawyer) and realtors.

Please actually look into things before engaging a knee-jerk reaction.

Right. Exactly. That is precisely the problem. We live in a society that spends 18 percent of its GDP, while the rest of the world spends 40 percent of its GDP. So the problem is definitely that we are spending too much, right?

I mean, by no means could it be that we give rich people a TOTAL break on income taxes, which everyone else does not; or that we (again, unlike the rest of the world) fail to tax corporations on their profits - even those that earn $100 million annually like FOCOL, Colina and others.

What ignorance persists in this land!