Thank you. Like I said, if the law changes, then I will carry ID. But I think that Christie is too scared to do this, as the police will have no excuse for not immediately charging illegal immigrants, unlicensed drivers and others who grease his palm

I was stopped in my car by the anti-terrorist police and army cordon this morning on Bay Street near downtown. When I explained that I did not have ID on me as it was 6.30 am and I was on my way home after my morning walk, the officer (in battle fatigues and carrying an automatic weapon) said that I should always carry ID.

I replied that when it becomes law, I will carry ID at all times, but not until then - all this violent crime and killings mean that I never carry anything of value whenever possible, especially picture ID. When the law is changed and we have to carry ID, then of course I will know that Mr Christie has lost the plot completely, and we are living in a Fascist Police state.

I recently had a discussion about VAT with a lady who works in her company's IT department. Not only did she not know how VAT works, other than being aware that "some things will be more expensive", she was also adamant that nobody in her company had mentioned that their software needed to be updated sometime this year, once details of the tax have been finalised.

I am by no means saying that this lady is ignorant, or not good at her job, but Mr Wilson, I AM saying that the general public (not, I hasten to add, the readers of the Tribune online) seem to not have had the whole new tax system adequately explained to them. So we will continue to talk, shout, harangue and generally carry on bad until everyone in our Bahamas is aware of just how disastrous this evil tax will be for us.

Let's be honest here - Fred would go to the opening of a fridge.

At least we can rest easy, knowing that the Police will apprehend the suspects as quickly as they did in the DPM incident..........hmmmm

Your link is an informative and very scary story, and unfortunately I can easily see it happening here. It would an interesting experiment if Government were to invite a cross section of Bajans to educate us Bahamians on VAT and its effect on small-island businesses, instead of the Kiwis. But I guess that's not going to happen

Can someone please let me know where I can find a copy of the "very serious" penalties imposed on Government agencies when they do not collect Real Property Tax ? Hmmm - I thought so, there aren't any.....but God forbid the private sector should ever get behind in doing Government's job by collecting and paying over VAT.

The Oracle puts it so succinctly - well done Sir (or Madame)

Another reason why this Government is so against a payroll tax is that when fully 40% of all employees earn their living working for Government, it cannot then in effect tax itself by making deductions from payroll, so the only way of finding "new" money is from the water in the bucket brought into this country from abroad i.e. the private sector's bucket.

Quote...."However all these findings are based on the assumption that all additional revenue based on the introduction of VAT is assigned to reducing public debt, the IDB said"

But we all know this will not be the case. The government of the day will just use any increase in revenues to hire more cronies, hand out bigger bribes, and increase the lifetime pensions of parliamentarians, ex-Prime Ministers and their widows

A quick Google of "VAT in New Zealand" (yes, Mr Christie, we can type all those letters by ourselves) shows that GST, as the Kiwis have it, has already been increased twice since it was introduced - from 10% to 12.5% to 15%. Well, doh, do they have to travel half way round the world to teach us that ?

And to my esteemed colleagues above, (on, cc, rory and banker) the real reason why they are bringing in Kiwis is that there will, of course, have to be reciprocal return visits to Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch by our MOFA to see what impact GST has had on the average Joey. Got to plan these jaunts well ahead of time you know