The Tax Coalition in The Bahamas praises the Bahamian Prime Minister for being open to pushing back Value-Added Tax’s (VAT) implementation day in The Islands

Tax Coalition Chiefs Praise Pm’S ‘Fantastic’ Vat Remarks

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

Nassau, The Bahamas



Co-chairs for the private sector’s Tax Coalition yesterday praised indications that the Prime Minister was open to pushing back Value-Added Tax’s (VAT) implementation day as “fantastic”, warning it was “paramount” that the economy be protected.

Pointing out that the Government would not achieve its revenue-raising objectives if the economy “went to hell in a hand basket”, Robert Myers said he was interpreting Mr Christie’s comments positively, and as a sign that the Government was listening to the private sector’s concerns.

And, picking up on another aspect of the Prime Minister’s remarks, Mr Myers said it was “ludicrous” that a wealthy, ‘informal’ sector in the shape of web shop gaming remained untaxed as the Government moved to increase the burden on legitimate businesses and Bahamian citizens.

Suggesting that the Government could earn as much as $100 million per annum from taxing web shop gaming, Mr Myers added that the Treasury would likely earn another $50 million just by tightening up on the collection of existing taxes.

He especially called on the Government’s new Central Revenue Agency (CRA) to compare bank wire transfers and drafts obtained by companies to finance import purchases with subsequent Customs declarations, to ensure they were not evading due revenue payments. And Business Licence renewals also needed to be better linked with being current on tax payments

With these various initiatives potentially generating another $150 million per annum for the Government, Mr Myers said successful execution would enable it to either lower the VAT rate of possibly avoid introducing the new tax altogether.

The businessman told Tribune Business that the Bahamas Chamber of Commerce and Employers Confederation’s (BCCEC) Coalition for Responsible Taxation was attempting to “drive one objective; that the economy is protected”.

“No matter what we do with [government] revenue, the primary issue is we protect the economy,” Mr Myers emphasised.

“We understand the need for government revenue, we support the need for something to be done. The question is: What are we going to do, and how, and that we protect and unequivocally ensure the economy is not going to take a hit?

“That’s paramount here. No one wins if the economy goes to hell in a hand basket. That has always been our position.”

Mr Christie’s comments on Wednesday outside the House of Assembly indicate he is prepared to push the July 1, 2014, target deadline back if he feels the Government and private sector are not ready for it.

This is line with the Coalition’s calls for the Government to postpone VAT implementation to a date at least 12 months from the release of the accompanying legislation, regulations, Tariff Schedules and economic models.

The Bahamas is now less than eight months from the July 1 VAT implementation deadline, with none of the above documents having been released.

Still, interpreting the Prime Minister’s comments as a sign the Government was willing to dialogue with the private sector, Mr Myers said of his remarks: “That’s great, that’s fantastic.

“We’re very happy with his comments, and that’s the responsible thing to do. He’s suggesting in that statement that he’s listening to the business community.”

He was backed by fellow Coalition co-chair, Gowon Bowe, he said the Prime Minister’s comments indicated he wanted discussions with both it and the wider business community.

The PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) accountant and partner added that while the Government knew it was necessary to change the Bahamas’ fiscal course, it was “equally appreciative that if they get it wrong, it will be catastrophic”.

Pointing out that VAT was one component of fiscal reform, Mr Bowe said all elements had to be bound together in one “complete and comprehensive approach”.

“We have to look at spending, how we manage the debt, our foreign currency reserves and how we manage the reserves at the Central Bank,” Mr Bowe told Tribune Business.

“So it’s a multi-pronged approach. We need to make sure we have it correct.”

Mr Bowe added that he felt Mr Christie would not have made the comments he did without senior officials telling him there were issues that needed to be tackled with respect to VAT.

Mr Christie also suggested that January’s web shop gaming ‘opinion poll’ outcome had deprived the Government of another revenue stream, something Mr Myers agreed with.

“It’s absolutely ludicrous to think we’re going to tax the legal entities of this country, and the citizens of this country, while this sector remains unregulated, open and illegitimate,” he told Tribune Business.

“It’s absurd to think legitimate people pay taxes, and these numbers houses remain unregulated because we’ve not figured out how to regulate them.

“It’s not going anywhere, and we’ve not indicated we have the fortitude to close them down. Let’s stop fooling ourselves. The numbers guys want to be regulated, want to be taxed.”

Mr Myers said Wednesday’s meeting with the Retail Grocers Association, and other Bahamian retailers, went well in terms of introducing them to the Coalition and its objectives and having them elect representatives to it.

Emphasising that the Coalition was not seeking to “override” or take the place of individual industry Associations, Mr Myers said it was intended to act as a “catalyst” and focal point through which they could all air their VAT-related concerns to the Government.

He added that the Coalition was now “imploring” them to submit their industry-specific concerns to it, and provide recommendations on revenues that the Government was “leaving on the table” or were easy to collect.

Suggestions had already come in from the Bahamas Diving Association and Marina Operators, Mr Myers said, adding of the fiscal situation: “We can sit here and cry, but we’re here.

“Now you’re asking for a paramount change in the way we do business, and what’s going to happen in our lives. We made a mistake, and have got one shot to fix this. Let’s fix it. We’ve got to go down fighting.”

November 08, 2013

Tribune 242 

Bahamas Blog International

The Bahamas Gaming Board Chairman, Dr. Andre Rollins says that the Bahamian government should tax web shops to boost its revenue ...and introduce value added tax (VAT) at a lower rate than the proposed 15 percent

Tax Webshops and Bring Forth VAT - Value Added Tax

PLP MP hits out on VAT

Rollins also has Gaming Bill concerns

TANEKA THOMPSON
Guardian Senior Reporter
taneka@nasguard.com
Nassau, The Bahamas

The government should tax web shops to boost its revenue and introduce value added tax (VAT) at a lower rate than the proposed 15 percent, Gaming Board Chairman Dr. Andre Rollins said yesterday.

The Fort Charlotte MP also weighed in on the controversial Gaming Bill and told The Nassau Guardian that “Believe in Bahamians” needs to be more than an election slogan.

Rollins said debate on the modernization of the country’s gaming industry should not be focused on expanding the sector to benefit foreigners while ignoring Bahamian participation.

“While VAT is such a hot topic in our country we have to look at this as an opportunity to at least reduce the amount of apprehension or to whatever extent we can appease the public that is concerned now more than ever about being overtaxed,” he told The Nassau Guardian.

Rollins said taxing web shops would give the government a revenue injection, allowing VAT to be phased in at a low rate over a few years.

“That would allow the transition into VAT, I believe, to be a lot more palatable or manageable for the average Bahamian,” he said.

“We know that VAT is still not considered to be a progressive form of taxation. It’s a regressive tax, maybe not as regressive as a customs duty based regime, but it’s regressive nonetheless.

“If we are in fact in tune with the concerns of the Bahamian people we would know that they are not too pleased with this whole idea of being taxed more, particularly at a time when the economy is still not growing to the extent that we can absorb all of the unemployment.”

The government plans to institute a 15 percent VAT on July 1, 2014 to help close the gap between revenue and expenditure.

In November, Prime Minister Perry Christie told Parliament the government could get $15 million to $20 million in annual taxes if web shops were properly regulated.

The controversial Gaming Bill was tabled in the House of Assembly last month.

The bill would allow casinos to offer mobile and Internet gaming, while preventing web shops from legally doing so, and maintains the status quo, which prevents Bahamians from legal gambling.

Rollins said it “makes no sense” to modernize the gaming industry for foreigners while leaving Bahamians out.

“We cannot as the government fuel a perception that we are enacting legislation that is geared toward bringing modernization to our country but which simultaneously leaves Bahamians behind,” Rollins said.

“Believing in Bahamians must be more than a convenient political slogan. In opposition you have the luxury of being elected on your promises.  As the government, however, you are judged by your actions. This debate is about much more than gaming; it is about maintaining our philosophical credibility as a government that says it believes in Bahamians.”

Rollins said if the issue of Bahamians gambling is not dealt with during the debate on the Gaming Bill, he doubts it would happen during this term.

“I don’t expect for Bahamians to believe that if we don’t discuss the importance of Bahamians participating in the industry, whether as owners or patrons, that if we don’t do it now it’s likely for us to do it later,” he said.  “Later when, after the next election?

“We cannot continue to leave the interests of Bahamians behind.”

In January, a majority of people who voted in a referendum on gambling voted no to the regularization and taxation of web shops.  The government has said it will abide by the outcome of that vote.

Debate on the Gaming Bill is expected to begin in the House of Assembly on Wednesday.

November 04, 2013

thenassauguardian

Grenada paid for the U.S. defeat in Vietnam

 

• In what context did the U.S. invasion of Grenada take place
30 years ago? What similarities exist with the current U.S. position?

By Dalia González Delgado

WHAT could lead the most powerful country in the world to invade a nation of only 110,000 inhabitants? Three decades ago, some 7,000 U.S. marines and parachutists occupied Grenada, in an operation labeled Urgent Fury. The capital of this Caribbean island was bombarded by aircraft, helicopters and warships.

Maurice Bishop in 1980
(FOTO:ARCHIVO)

The United Nations condemned the aggression. Ronald Reagan, who occupied the White House at the time, responded, "100 nations in the United Nations have not agreed with us on just about everything that's come before them where we are involved, and it didn't upset my breakfast at all."

This was the same President who when asked about the possibility of invading Nicaragua in 1986 said, " You're looking at an individual that is the last one in the world that would ever want to put American troops into Latin America, because the memory of the Great Colossus of the North is so widespread in Latin America, we'd lose all our friends if we did anything of that kind."

The events of October 1983 took place within the framework of an effort by Reagan, elected in 1981, to reestablish what in the view of neoconservatives was "the needed recovery of the U.S. military's ability to coerce," according to Cuban political scientist and researcher Dr. Carlos Alzugaray.

Some 7,000 U.S. marines and
parachutists invaded Grenada
October 25, 1983

"In the perception of this group, there existed what they described as a growing danger, evidenced by revolutions in Iran, Nicaragua and Grenada; Cuba's support to struggles in Angola and Ethiopia; the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan; and other international events," the expert told Granma.

"They believed that all of this was due to the weak image projected by the United States after the defeat in Vietnam and the policy they described as pacifist which President Carter had implemented: a canal agreement with Panama, tolerance of the Soviet-Cuban-Nicaraguan support for revolutions in Central America, the Camp David Accords between Israel and Palestine, a pacifist policy in Europe, to give just a few examples."

Thus the current debate about the relative loss of power on the part of the United States - exacerbated by developments in Syria - has a precedent in the 1970's. 1979, when Maurice Bishop and his revolutionary New Jewel Movement came to power, was also the year of the Islamic Revolution in Iran and the Sandinista Revolution in Nicaragua. This was compounded by a decade of economic crisis.

The U.S. needed a show of force to make clear that the country still had the resources, and the will, to protect its strategic interests wherever they might be challenged, Alzugaray said.

"The Caribbean Basin was, for many, the perfect site, a location in which the relationship of forces favored the U.S. given the closeness and overwhelming military advantage.

"Both Nicaragua and Grenada were considered vulnerable," Alzugaray continued, "but different strategies were followed in the two countries: a covert war against the first, with support to reactionary regimes in the area, and an open invasion of the latter, once propitious conditions existed."

Grenada's revolutionary process fell victim to internal contradictions. The new government had disarmed the police, created a Popular Assembly with representation and participation by all social layers; began the redistribution of land; supported access to health care and education. More than 2,500 people had learned to read and write by 1981. Nevertheless, one segment of the leadership questioned Bishop's politics and demanded more radical positions. This led to his destitution, arrest and assassination on October 19, 1983. These were the conditions under which the U.S. mounted the invasion.

The most powerful country in the world is today experiencing the erosion of its hegemony. When faced with a similar situation in the past, the U.S reacted by attacking a small country. How might it respond today?

There were and are two possible reactions, then and now, said Ernesto Domínguez, from the University of Havana's Center for Hemispheric and U.S. Studies (CEHSEU), speaking with Granma: "Assume the decline and attempt to manage it in such a way to preserve a privileged position, or try to detain the process by resorting to the use of force, with several concrete objectives, such as giving a show of power, reaffirming geo-strategic positions, controlling key resources or stimulating the economy with military spending."

However, Dr. Domínguez commented that there are important differences between that historical moment and the present. "In the first place, at that time we were still in the middle of the bi-polarism of the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union. This added a factor which does not currently exist, one of an identified rival with which to compete, and a relationship of understandable confrontation-equilibrium," the professor asserted.

"At that time the decline was more apparent than real, given that the rival in question was in the process of internal disintegration which was not evident until a few years later, but which was already having serious effects, while the United States was far from this. The movements in Latin America and the Third World in general were strongly connected to the USSR in many ways.

"Currently, the relative decline appears more real, since multi-polarity is an emerging process, albeit with still a long way to go. Latin American movements do not depend on a socialist camp or on a power counterpoised to the United States. The current leftist and revolutionary movements have their roots more openly and solidly established in national and regional realities and contradictions, and they themselves are attempting to construct alternatives of integration," Alzugaray said.

 

October 31, 2013

 

Granma.cu

 

Why has banking in The Bahamas become such an ordeal and so dysfunctional?

Our dysfunctional banking system

Consider This...

PHILIP C. GALANIS
Nassau, The Bahamas

The key insight of Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations is misleadingly simple: if an exchange between two parties is voluntary, it will not take place unless both believe they will benefit from it. Most economic fallacies derive from the neglect of this simple insight, from the tendency to assume that there is a fixed pie, that one party can gain only at the expense of another. – Milton Friedman

Once upon a time, banking in The Bahamas was a relatively pleasant experience.  One could meet with a banker, solicit prudent financial advice and, with relative ease, obtain a loan to start or expand a business, purchase a home or a car and even address challenging financial matters facing the customer.  But that was a very long time ago and today, that has all changed.  Therefore this week, we would like to Consider This… why has banking in The Bahamas become such an ordeal and so dysfunctional?

What has changed?

Following the blacklisting of The Bahamas by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and with the passage of the compendium of financial services legislation in 2000, The Bahamas entered a new banking era, one that was characterized by over-regulation by the Central Bank and a private sector gestapo-like gatekeeper, nominally called the bank compliance officer.

This relatively new bank compliance officer that has recently emerged has rapidly joined the ranks of threats to the progressive development of our financial services sector by imposing extraordinary and often ridiculously rigid requirements on prospective customers, some of whom have had long-standing relationships with their banks.  Like many faceless bureaucrats, it appears as if some compliance officers take a delight in thwarting positive bank-customer relationships.  Instead of seeking to find a happy medium between due diligence and sensible regulation, the insistence on some of their non-negotiable requirements seems to be a zero-sum exercise.  Banking in The Bahamas could be an experience where everybody wins.  However, recent experiences have resulted instead in chasing business away from the jurisdiction.

Some examples

Many persons who bank in The Bahamas have experienced those institutions imposing stringent reporting requirements over the past few years.  Long-standing customers complain about banks requiring them to provide excessive information on a regular basis, even though much of the same information requested has previously been submitted.  Equally vexing is requiring customers to provide the same information if they wish to open new accounts at the same bank, notwithstanding that they have operated an account or various accounts for many years.  Some customers complain that they are treated like strangers at best and criminals at worse just to open new accounts.

This writer recalls a recent frustrating experience of opening a bank account to service a client which took more than a month, despite providing all the information that was requested by the compliance officer at the bank.  The client became so frustrated with the constantly changing additional requirements of the Compliance Department that the person gave up on The Bahamas and this writer had to open an account in a major New York bank in order to satisfy the client’s needs.  It took exactly one week to complete the account opening procedures in New York, the same procedures that took over a month in The Bahamas, and the Bahamian bank still has not yet opened the account.  The frustrated client wrote: “I thought that The Bahamas was a very investor-friendly jurisdiction.  I simply don’t understand why it’s so difficult to open a bank account there.”  The client, a major South American multinational, reputable company with banking relationships all over the world, had intended to transfer millions of dollars to The Bahamas for management here, but that business and those funds will now move to New York.  We believe that this experience is replicated many times each week.

It is unfortunate, but reasonable, to assume that these harmful practices are allowed to persist with the full knowledge and complicity of some of the banks whose head offices are located in North America, principally in Canada.  While those banks have significantly contributed to the national job market here, they have invested very little in The Bahamas, compared to the enormous profits that they earn in our country.  The unfortunate fact is that too many of our Bahamian bankers have become nothing more than glorified paper pushers with impressive job titles but very little authority.  Sadly, they seem determined to frustrate their customers, domestic and foreign.

The fallout

The short- and long-term consequences of the attitude of some compliance officers are that the jurisdiction is fast becoming an increasingly difficult and undesirable place to do business.  Considerable losses are resulting from this behavior on the part of some Bahamian bankers.  Not only are we losing an enormous amount of banking business, we are also losing legal and accounting fees and government taxes because of the attitudes of some compliance officers in Bahamian banks.  In fact, some Bahamian professionals are now advising their clients to incorporate and bank in another jurisdiction and not to conduct business in The Bahamas because of the inordinately difficult and ridiculously rigid scrutiny to which they are subjected.  And the word is rapidly spreading internationally.

The implications for our financial services sector are ominous.  If we are not careful, we will experience a larger number of banks leaving The Bahamas because of the over-regulation of the jurisdiction and the generally unfriendly attitude of some bankers.  This cannot be a positive development.  It is therefore critically important to arrest the behavior of some of our banks and to change the harmful attitudes of their compliance officers.

Conclusion

It is ironic that a large Bahamian delegation is presently in the United Arab Emirates on a business promotion trip, encouraging high-net-worth individuals and businesses to establish their businesses here.  Therefore, while this delegation is doing all it can to encourage business to come to our shores, here at home we seem to be doing little to make it easy for them to actually conduct business should they decide to invest here.  If we are not careful, and if we do not arrest the negative attitude by some of our banks and compliance officers, there will be little need to have a Ministry of Financial Services.  Instead of the influx of business that we need, we will experience the exodus of sound businesses from our jurisdiction.

As a part of the global village, we need to remember, in the words of Milton Friedman, the famous United States economist, that business activity, including banking, does not have to be a zero-sum experience where one party can gain only at the expense of another.

• Philip C. Galanis is the managing partner of HLB Galanis & Co., Chartered Accountants, Forensic & Litigation Support Services.  He served 15 years in Parliament.  Please send your comments to pgalanis@gmail.com.

October 28, 2013

thenassauguardian

Bahamas Blog International

Marcus Garvey is still relevant today

Why Marcus Garvey is still Relevant Today

BY MELODY CAMMOCK-GAYLE

"WE must canonise our own saints, create our own martyrs, and elevate to positions of fame and honour black men and women who have made their distinct contributions to our racial history."

As the National Heroes' Day celebrations take centre stage, and our heroes are brought to the fore, I thought this a fitting time as any to explain why for me, Marcus Garvey is as relevant today as he was 80 years ago, albeit in a different time and social context.

And I'm not suggesting that the achievements and contributions of our other heroes and heroine are less significant, because undoubtedly each, in his/her own right, has done much for our development as a people and a country.

And no, I'm not a racist, nor do I believe in emigrating to Africa. In fact, I see past colour and I do try to judge each person on the content of his/her character.  I am a Jamaican and the world is my oyster.  But Garvey stands out, because many of the dreams he wanted for the black race in the 1900s, I want for Jamaica today.

"The ends you serve that are selfish will take you no further than yourself, but the ends you serve that are for all, in common, will take you into eternity."

Born in St Ann, in 1887, Marcus Mosiah Garvey is celebrated as the first black man to lead and develop a mass movement of people. He was the first man, on a mass scale, to give millions of blacks a sense of dignity and destiny.  He was a visionary, whose teachings and philosophies are as relevant today as they were a century ago, especially for a country with a 90 per cent population of black people, though in a totally different time.

Among the main tenets of his teachings were: a sense of pride in self, as a black race; respect for each other and the idea of black enterprise and entrepreneurship.  If we would get these right, then Jamaica and the conceptual framework referred to as Brand Jamaica would be unstoppable.

Garvey taught self-belief, positive self-esteem and self-respect to black people at a time when the black race was considered less than second-class citizens.  Such a concept was revolutionary then, and in some ways still revolutionary now.

He emphasised education, and an awareness and appreciation of our rich African heritage, as avenues to locate a deep sense of self-identity, which engenders personal and national growth.  To achieve greatness, Garvey believed that a people needed to believe in themselves, understand history and arm themselves with the knowledge of how to move forward co-operatively.

"The black skin is not a badge of shame, but rather a glorious symbol of national greatness."

It is therefore surprising that, more than 70 years after Marcus Garvey's death, we are still struggling with issues of love for our black self, so much so that skin-bleaching is a near epidemic. As Jamaicans, we need to draw pride from somewhere; pride in ourselves, pride in our country, pride in our achievements. Thus my strong belief is that Garveyism should be taught in schools from the primary level. Too many of our youth have little sense of identity, no idea of their past, and no interest in their future.

Understanding that the theoretical construct of national identity is about collectivity and connectivity, Garvey's teaching will help to provide that cognitive, moral, and emotional connection, which must be made between an individual and his/her broader community or category.  With this in place, we would have created a system of meaning which allows people to feel a sense of oneness, security, inclusion, and belonging.

Collective identity guides individual action, provides a moral compass and emotional connection with other people who share similar interests and ideologies in a broader community. Self-belief affects self-image, which affects nation development. A people who love themselves don't deface their skin.  A people who love their nation don't deface national symbols, throw garbage on roads or in gullies, or urinate at every street corner or display blatant disregard for law and order.

Pride in self must overflow to respect for each other.  A people working together for the development of self and nation have no time to annihilate the brother working beside him.
 

"The Negro will have to build his own government, industry, art, science, literature and culture, before the world will stop to consider him."

Garvey also believed in economic self-sufficiency and financial independence, seeing this as the black race's only protection against discrimination.  Once this economic foundation was created, they could then move on to social and political pursuits.  Still, 50 years after Independence, Jamaica has neither economic self-sufficiency nor financial independence.

Sadly, we have not been able to curb spending, while our taste for everything foreign continues to drive us deeper into debt.  Last year the food import bill alone stood at US$959 million.  Despite the Government's campaign to 'Eat what we grow; Grow what we eat' there has been little overall traction in encouraging demand for locally produced products or injecting enthusiasm in local manufacturing. But, this is where we need to look if we are to experience any economic success as a nation. Garvey truly got it right.

So, as the great visionary Marcus Garvey said: "We Are arbiters of our own destiny. God and nature first made us what we are, and then out of our own creative genius we make ourselves what we want to be." So, I guess the question is what do we want to be?

"Intelligence rules the world, ignorance carries the burden."

Melody Cammock-Gayle is the director — business development and marketing at Communications & Business Solutions (CBS) Limited. cbsmarketingja@gmail.com

October 21, 2013

 Jamaica Observer

Value-Added Tax (VAT) in The Bahamas ...and its “positive” impact on the Bahamian economy’s growth and employment prospects ...in the medium-term

Idb Study Shows Vat 'Positive' For Jobs, Growth

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

Nassau, The Bahamas


An Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) study has shown that Value-Added Tax (VAT) will have a “positive” impact on the Bahamian economy’s growth and employment prospects in the medium-term, a senior official said last night.

John Rolle, the Ministry of Finance’s financial secretary, said that despite the IDB study being incomplete, the ‘preliminary results’ showed the Government’s tax reform centrepiece would also result in reduced inflationary pressures.

“While the IDB study is ongoing, we have seen the preliminary results, which attest to the projected positive economic impact of the fiscal reforms (growth and employment over the medium term), and to the reduced inflationary pressures to which the budgetary consolidation would contribute,” Mr Rolle told Tribune Business.

“Additional historical data is being added to the economic model, which will allow the researchers to fine-tune their results.  Afterwards the results of the study will be published.”

Mr Rolle was commenting after the IDB used its October quarterly bulletin on the Caribbean to confirm it is working with the Government on implementing VAT in the Bahamas.  It said its study on the new tax’s impact on the economy and wider society was only “underway”.

“The IDB has been working with the Government of The Bahamas to assist with Value-Added Tax (VAT) implementation,” the Bank’s October missive said.

“Using an econometric model, the IDB has provided specific input on the effects of the changes in revenue of the proposed VAT rates and the base on which the VAT will be charged.

“An economic impact study that assesses the effect on prices, economic growth, poverty and income distribution is currently underway.  Consultations on the creation of the Central Revenue Agency, which will administer the VAT and select the IT system, are currently underway.”

Despite Mr Rolle’s assurances, the IDB’s comment is still likely to raise eyebrows in the private sector, as it indicates that the true ‘number crunching’ on VAT’s impact on the wider Bahamian economy and society has yet to be completed, and with implementation of the new tax now less than eight-and-a-half months away.

It is also unclear whether the Government internally, via the Ministry of Finance, has completed ‘VAT economic impact’ studies of its own, or whether this work has been done by other agencies, such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF, or external consultants.

A Ministry of Finance press statement earlier this year referenced work done by the IMF and its regional affiliate, CARTAC, on a Bahamian VAT, although no specifics about the nature of their work were released.

One observer who raised such questions was Rick Lowe, an executive with the Nassau Institute economic think-tank, whose own study on VAT’s likely impact on The Bahamas has been belittled by various government officials.

Suggesting that the Government’s moral authority to do this was diminished by the absence of any completed studies of its own, Mr Lowe argued that the burden of VAT collection/administration was being placed on those companies that were already 100 per cent compliant with their taxes.

And, noting the contents of the 2010-2011 Auditor General’s Report, which found that another $95 million in unpaid real property tax was added to the existing ‘sum owing’, taking this to over $500 million, Mr Lowe questioned how the Government expected to collect everything due to it under a VAT.

“It’s a basket case, it really is,” Mr Lowe told Tribune Business.  “How do we expect to implement a more convoluted tax system if we can’t administer the basics?”

He added that the experience of other countries that had implemented VAT was that new taxes did not stop there, often being followed by income taxes and other revenue-raising measures.

“It’s a never-ending way to tax people,” Mr Lowe added.  “It’s the thin end of the wedge.  If we’re not capable of collecting basic taxes, heaven knows, not to mention the underground economy.”

He added that VAT would likely drive more Bahamians to online shopping and trips to Miami, and said of the IDB’s comments on the economic impact study, or lack of it: “How can they [the Government] stand up there and berate anyone who has concerns based on the impact of VAT on other countries in the region, and they’ve not done a study yet? It speaks volumes.

“They berate anyone who stands up and raises questions, and those questions result from government’s lack of information. We’re beeped down as if we’re dummies.

“They’ve [the Government] been forging ahead as if it’s a fait accompli, and haven’t done a cost benefit analysis.  Have they considered the impact on businesses close to the edge?  Obviously they haven’t.  Is it going to destroy the economy and they get less revenue?  Is that the Government’s intention?

“If they haven’t done the basics yet, how can they just think they can throw their hands up and say: ‘We can take more money from the citizens?’ It’s unconscionable. I weep for our country.”

Questioning why the Government had allowed “this large swathe” of non-real property tax payers to exist, Mr Lowe said VAT would impose an even greater tax burden on those who were already paying their bills.

“To say we can’t collect the taxes already on the books, and to tax more people who legally do what’s right and pay the taxes they ought to pay, something’s wrong with that reasoning,” he added.

October 21, 2013

Tribune 242

 

Latin American communications routed through the United States, affirms Assange

THE journalist and creator of the Wikileaks website, Julian Assange, affirms that virtually the totality of communications from Latin America are routed through the United States, and that this country intercepts them in order to consolidate its influence in the world.

It is a fact that 98% of telecommunications from Latin America to the rest of the world, including text messages, telephone calls, emails etc, pass through the U.S, Assange noted, in an interview with Russia Today conducted within the Ecuadoran embassy in London, where he has been granted refuge.

Washington’s objective is to obtain information on how Latin America is behaving, where it is making economic transactions and the activities of leaders and major players, the Australian activist added.
 

In Assange’s opinion, this espionage allows the U.S. to predict, to a certain degree, the conduct of Latin American leaders and interests, and also to exert coercion on almost any significant person.
 

He explained that the United States had aggressively tried to disprupt economic exchange through intervention and its control of Swift, Visa, MasterCard or monies sent to Latin America via the Bank of America.
 

The United States is appropriating economic and telecommunications interactions and this poses a threat to national sovereignty, he observed.

 

In relation to the former CIA technician Edward Snowden, who is living in exile in Russia after having revealed mass espionage on the part of U.S. secret services, Assange noted that Wikileaks was formally and informally implicated in Snowden’s requests for asylum made to approximately 20 countries.

 

Assange believes that Snowden had a genuine possibility of gaining asylum in several countries and Wikileaks noted others to inform the public of rejections and thus generate debate, and to report how governments were responding to Snowden’s applications for asylum.
 

The Wikileaks founder recalled that Venezuela, Bolivia and Ecuador were the Latin American countries which indicated interest in granting asylum to Snowden.
 

The activities revealed by the former CIA analyst include espionage on Latin American leaders such as Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, who cancelled a visit to Washington, scheduled for October 23, since she considered the explanations offered by her counterpart Barack Obama insufficient.
 

According to these leaks, U.S. secret services also spied on Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto. (EFE)

 

October 17, 2013

 

Granma.cu

 

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