Women of the Democratic National Alliance (DNA) find Leslie Miller’s girlfriend beating remarks in Parliament extremely offensive and disturbing

Do Our Parliamentarians Condone Abuse Against Women?

Leslie Miller’s recent comments from the floor of Parliament last week speak to an issue that women in this country, and around the world, have faced for decades. The idea that any sort of violence against women has become laughable to the nation’s legislators is unfortunate, unacceptable but sadly unsurprising. Gender based violence in the Bahamas is real. It is a reality with which hundreds of women and girls face every day and everywhere.

Sadly, women who are being abused by their husbands or boyfriends continue to remain silent living in fear of their abusers, many of whom are high profile individuals not unlike Mr. Leslie Miller himself. It is disappointing to know the very people that should advocate for stronger laws to protect the rights of women are the ones making a mockery of women, especially those who are “victims”.

Mr. Leslie Miller has since attempted to back pedal from his comments. At the time, the Tall Pines Member of Parliament was attempting to draw a comparison between the FNM’s self-proclaimed love of the country’s fishermen while likening it to a husband who daily beats his wife as a way of demonstrating his love. Those comments, he says, were made in jest. As a father and a grandfather, I wonder if Mr. Leslie Miller would find the abuse of his own daughters at the hand of someone else equally as amusing.

What is even more shameful is the number of Parliamentarians who laughed along with him and others, while female members of government remained silent. As President of the DNA Women’s Alliance, I find these remarks extremely offensive and disturbing. The fact that Mr. Leslie Miller was not rebuked in that moment also gives me cause for great concern.

We do not elect Members of Parliament to be regaled with stories about their distorted sexual relationships. We do not elect them to be comedians at the expense of Bahamian women. We elect them to defend the rights of ALL BAHAMIANS and with women making up a large section of the voting public, we elect them to defend the rights of ALL WOMEN.

Are these the types of persons whom PM Perry Christie has deemed fit to lead? Does he himself condone the disrespect of Bahamian women, many of whom voted for him during the last general election? We demand that Mr. Christie offer an explanation for his silence on this very serious issue. He too, must answer for his apparent inability to curb the inappropriate behavior of members of his own government.

Just over a month ago, the DNA Women’s Alliance launched a campaign to “Break the cycle of abuse on women and children”. The forum encouraged men and women to break the cycle of abuse by breaking the silence and speaking out against violence and reporting their abusers.

Perhaps Mr. Leslie Miller would do well to attend one such forum. Perhaps then, his hands as he put it would become tired or hurt, not from physically assaulting a woman, but rather from helping to build up the country’s communities. Perhaps Mr. Leslie Miller would prefer that the voting public gave him the ‘break’ which he asked for by having him removed as the representative for Tall Pines.

This is a very serious matter, and we expect our Members of Parliament to be in our corner, and support us on this matter. The women of the Bahamas are owed an apology, immediately. Point, Blank, Period.

Prodesta Moore
DNA Women’s Alliance President

March 06, 2014

Democratic National Alliance (DNA) on Facebook

Fred Mitchell joins the discussion on CARICOM’s survival

Saving CARICOM, pt. 1

• This commentary is taken from a lecture given by Minister of Foreign Affairs and Immigration Fred Mitchell on February 6 at the University of the West Indies, St. Augustine in Trinidad and Tobago. Mitchell’s address was on “Saving CARICOM”.

Kamau Brathwaite, the Barbadian poet writes in his work “Negus”:
It is not enough to be free
of the red white and blue
of the drag of the dragon…

In the days just before Christmas the great man Nelson Mandela died. The Bahamian prime minister had made arrangements to get to South Africa on a commercial airline. We received a call from the secretary general’s office at CARICOM to say that the prime minister of Trinidad and Tobago, Kamla Persad-Bissessar, had offered a Caribbean Airlines flight to all CARICOM countries without cost and would we take advantage of the offer. Our prime minister agreed right away. He was joined by the president of Haiti, deputy prime ministers of Grenada and St. Lucia, the foreign minister of Barbados and ambassador from Antigua and Barbuda. That single gesture of Caribbean outreach made an impression on Africa and ourselves which went beyond what money could buy.

The prime minister of Trinidad and Tobago, who is ethnically Indian, wore on the occasion an African dress and headwear. She was resplendent. She joined the heads of Jamaica, Guyana and Suriname, who had already made their way there. We appeared in South Africa as a team. That is CARICOM at its best. This was no group of groveling mendicants, as Errol Barrow had once lamented about Caribbean leaders. In South Africa, the leaders got along well and the chemistry was there. It is that chemistry about which Prime Minister Kenny Anthony spoke last year when he hosted the heads of government conference as being the key to CARICOM’s survival.

Prime Minister Persad-Bissessar’s decision reinforced the great comfort which The Bahamas got when in September last year CARICOM issued a statement in support of The Bahamas in the face of withering criticism by Cuban-American protestors in Miami. We knew we were not alone. Someone had our back.

Tonight’s discussion is about CARICOM’s survival.

I am pleased to be here. This is a special honor for me and for The Bahamas. Being up at the northern end of the chain people tend to think of us as a world away and a world apart but I have come to tell you this evening that we see ourselves as an integrated part of this region. Our founding father the late Sir Lynden Pindling on July 4, 1983 committed our country to this CARICOM project. He reaffirmed that by signing the Grand Anse Declaration in 1989 committing The Bahamas to the Single Market and Economy although we have some ways to go.

All governments of The Bahamas, admittedly with varying degrees of enthusiasm, have embraced the notion that we have a common future together.

I come, therefore, tonight representing that generation of Bahamians to whom the task of governance for today has been entrusted, to renew our commitment to the CARICOM enterprise.

CARICOM is not just an economic project. It is the very soul of our people from Bermuda to Suriname. It is that narrative that I have come to tell.

In doing so I begin by saying thank you to my hosts for their gracious invitation to listen to what I have to say. I recall Pastor David Johnson who has now sadly passed away. He was being honored with the naming of the village Christmas tree in my Fox Hill constituency. He was then 77-years-old. He said he could not believe it. He could still on that cool winter evening in Nassau remember when he was running around in short pants and talking about the elders of the Fox Hill village. Now, he said they are calling me one of the elders.

That is the stark reality of time. It reminds us that our time on the stage is short; but I committed myself a long time ago to the notion that if I ever got a chance to be on the public stage I would not squander the opportunity. I would do what I was called upon to do.

So this then is dedicated to all of those teachers and their patience from the time I was a little boy; my parents, particularly my mother, who forced me to wake up early each morning and get ahead of the day; dedicated to Dawson Conliffe and Bonaventure Dean, my old headmasters. All now gone on but they live on the heart and mind of their student.

I thank Dr. Monica Davis, the honorary consul for The Bahamas to Trinidad and Tobago, who graduated with me from high school in The Bahamas way back in June of 1970 at the Catholic High School in Nassau, St. Augustine’s College.

James Baldwin reminds us in “The Amen Corner” how strange life is, the twists and turns it takes. I call these Dickensian moments after the pattern in those Dickens novels where someone disappears at the start of the book and then magically pops up at the end of the book with a smart and pleasant surprise.

I would like to thank the Secretary General Irwin La Rocque for his kindly providing me with access to the secretariat’s headquarters building where this work was largely written and to his supportive staff. The speech was written in Georgetown, Guyana which V.S. Naipaul, the Trinidadian-born writer, described in turns as “the most beautiful city in the West Indies” and then “the most exquisite city in the British Caribbean”.

I also thank the current prime minister of The Bahamas, Perry Christie, for permitting my participation in this, even as he complained that I was going to be away from home too long. However, I have always enjoyed a good relationship with all my bosses and with this boss the relationship is no different. I thank my constituents and Cabinet and parliamentary colleagues for their understanding and support.

I would however be remiss if I did not also dedicate this evening’s presentation to a man I greatly admired and respected. The name: Rex Nettleford. I first met him when I travelled with the late Winston Saunders, a Bahamian scholar and cultural icon in his own right, to Kingston for CARIFESTA in 1976. To quote one of the English ladies of quality who admired him, this man Rex Nettleford simply said “the most wonderful things”. He had a way of expressing life that could not be copied. He was an intellectual leader in Jamaica and widely admired and respected throughout the region as a dancer, choreographer, lecturer, trade unionist, writer, thinker, vice chancellor of the University of The West Indies and finally as the chairman of the Public Service Commission in Jamaica. He died at the age of 76 on February 2, 2010, four years ago.

CARICOM is an idea born from the genetics of the people themselves. I, for example, am the grandson of a Barbadian Sonny Forde who came to The Bahamas with his father at the turn of the last century as a baby. His father was a tailor for the Bahamian police force. My great grand grandmother was named Angelina Barrow. I never knew any of them.

The founder of our country Sir Lynden Pindling was the son of a Jamaican policeman who emigrated to The Bahamas. Many in the Cabinet that ended the white minority rule government in 1967 had one parent from the southern Caribbean. Indeed, today the governor general of The Bahamas, Sir Arthur Foulkes, is the son of a Haitian woman. Our first black member of Parliament in The Bahamas was Haitian, a man by the name Stephen Dillette elected in 1834.

Lynden Pindling was a classmate in law school in London of the late Dame Lois Browne Evans of Bermuda. She founded the PLP (Progressive Labour Party) in Bermuda with the advice and counsel of Sir Lynden of the PLP (Progressive Liberal Party) of The Bahamas. The rallying cry of both parties to this day is “ All the way!”. It was Ewart Brown, a successor of Dame Lois and a former Bermuda premier, who mooted the idea at a CARICOM Heads of Government meeting of a CARICOM airline that could provide transport for people from Bermuda to Suriname within a single day without having to traverse Miami.

I dedicate this to Rex Nettleford because he always talked about “the Caribbean ethos”. That is what this evening’s address is really about: the Caribbean ethos. The CARICOM project came about and continues and will continue because of the Caribbean ethos – what St. Vincent’s Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves amongst others has called “ the Caribbean civilization”.

So I am deeply indebted to Rex for imbuing in me a sense of hope and confidence that we as a people will one day get to the promised land.

Shortly after he died, there was a symposium in Kingston which was dedicated to his work and life. Some of Jamaica’s intellectuals and scholars were there. I was invited to lunch with some of them. For the first time in the history of my relationship with Jamaicans I detected despair. This was in the middle of the Dudus affair.

They lamented what had happened to their country. They did not see a way forward. They did not think that even with all their intellectual capacity that they could see a way out. They lamented the rise of criminal behavior in every enterprise, going so far as to say that they were shocked that some of the most respected business people in the country were infected by criminal enterprises.

This left me quite disturbed. I had come up at a time when Jamaica was bold and strong and relentless, no despair. Even in the worst of the economic issues of the Manley years, that remained true. Michael Manley himself told me that he was unreconstructed, unapologetic and unrepentant. That was the Jamaica I knew.

• Fred Mitchell is the member of Parliament for Fox Hill and minister of foreign affairs and immigration.

March 05, 2014

- Saving CARICOM, pt. 2

- Saving CARICOM, pt. 3

- Saving CARICOM pt.4

- Saving CARICOM, pt. 5

thenassauguardian

The proposed Value Added Tax (VAT) could deteriorate The Bahamas’ economy

Moree Says Gov’t Should Consider Payroll Tax–Attorney says VAT could destroy economy

by Korvell Pyfrom
Jones Bahamas:



A payroll tax would be a better solution for the country at this point, suggested Attorney and former Chairman of the Public Service Commission (PSC) Brian Moree, Queen’s Counsel, who warned that the proposed Value Added Tax (VAT) could deteriorate the country’s economy.

Mr. Moree, who appeared on Jones and Company Sunday, said VAT will affect the cost of living in The Bahamas significantly.

“Depending on your view of VAT, it is not going to grow the economy,” he said. “It is going to cause significant deterioration of the economy because even the proponents of VAT and the policy makers will tell you that is going to create what they euphemistically call a one-time cost of living adjustment – they say of about nine per cent – some people say it could be as high as 12 per cent and some people say it may be as low as seven per cent. But what is common ground is that is going to have an immediate impact of an increase in the cost of living somewhere between seven per cent and 12 per cent.”

Mr. Moree acknowledged that the government needs to raise revenue, reduce its deficits, grow the economy and reform the tax structure, but he said VAT is not its only option to pursue these things.

He suggested that the government consider capital gains tax, sales, tax, income tax, but he said a payroll tax seems to be the best alternative.

“It’s just a question of deciding what will have the most negative effect on the economy at this time and what could reasonably be implemented in the economy of The Bahamas where we have no culture of paying taxes in terms of record-keeping, reporting, enforcement and compliance,” he said. “Many business people today are really concerned whether they are going to be capable of keeping the books and records that are going to be necessary in order for them to administer VAT.”

The government intends to implement VAT at rate of 15 per cent on July 1, 2014.

Many business leaders have raised concern about its implementation with Super Value food stores President Rupert Roberts warning that it could lead to a customer revolt.

Financial Services Minister Ryan Pinder recently suggested that regularising the gaming industry could delay VAT’s implementation and reduce the rate at which Bahamians will be taxed.

March 03, 2014

The Bahama Journal

The looming introduction of value added-tax (VAT) and investors’ perceptions of the tax in The Bahamas

VAT creating ‘a lot of uncertainty’ for investors

But Bahamas still viewed as less risky investment than most regional peers

By Guardian Business Editor
alison@nasguard.com

Arguing that the looming introduction of value added-tax (VAT) is generating a “lot of uncertainty”, a KPMG valuation expert suggested that this is one of the “major risk factors” that is determining investors’ perceptions of The Bahamas at the moment.

Shana Lee, associate director of valuation services for KPMG Advisory Caribbean Ltd., was addressing the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) Society luncheon at Luciano’s of Chicago restaurant yesterday, on the topic of adjusting for country risk in business valuations.

Asked by CFA Society President Andrew Strachan what he sees as the major risk factors affecting The Bahamas’ sovereign rating over the medium term, a factor which goes into determining the country risk premium that forms part of a business valuation, Lee said: “One would be the sovereign debt level and two, there’s a lot of uncertainty with the potential introduction of VAT. So if you are an investor coming in now VAT is definitely going to impact the returns you’ll see, so it’s something you have to factor in.”

However, Lee described the quantification of the potential impact of VAT as “really tricky”.

“Its hard to say, I think it’s just going to come down to investors seeing that there’s uncertainty at this point and trying to factor that in,” she said.

Notwithstanding this uncertainty, Lee said that there has been a slight “uptick” in demand for valuation services in The Bahamas of late.

“There is activity. You see activity potentially with family businesses that are looking at succession plans and need to know the value of their companies for that. There are companies that may be looking at transactions and are evaluating what the potential price they may be looking at is. Valuations come up in terms of financial reporting, if you have goodwill on your books you need to value and test that goodwill every year so that comes up that way. There is work, though the M&A (mergers and acquisitions) market is a little bit slow right now, so there’s certainly room for growth,” said Lee.

The valuation expert explained that generally speaking valuations look at potential political, economic and liquidity risks in a given country, as investors want to know what risks are involved across a range of areas in a country where an acquisition or investment may be set to take place, in order to get an appreciation for what types of returns they should expect should they invest.

However, she added that due to a lack of data availability in some countries – a factor in The Bahamas, she noted, due to the small size of the capital market – models have been created which use a country with good data as a benchmark and which then attempt to adjust for the incremental difference in the risk between that country and the country where the valuation is taking place.

This provides a “basic” but not fail-proof country risk premium which can be utilized by investors to determine whether or not they will pursue an investment, and at what cost.

In addition to this basic assessment, a more complex assessment of country risk is sometimes undertaken which takes into consideration other factors.

Out of nine countries listed in the Caribbean, The Bahamas was ranked roughly equally with Trinidad and Tobago in terms of its country risk premium for investors, behind the Cayman Islands and Bermuda, but ahead of Barbados, Dominican Republic, Suriname, Jamaica and Cuba.

The Bahamas country risk premium, based on the various models, tended to hover below five percent, while for countries such as Jamaica the risk premium is in the region of between eight and 18

percent, while Cuba’s risk premium went as high as 28 percent depending on which model was used.

The relatively high ranking of this country in the region points to how notwithstanding risk factors and the fear of uncertainty generated by VAT, The Bahamas is still view largely positively in comparison to its peers by investors and advisory firms.

In an interview with Guardian Business, Lee suggested it does appear that the government is taking some steps to ensure that its country risk premium remains lower – and therefore its attractiveness to investors, higher – than many of its regional peers.

“I guess the government is trying to take measures to address the sovereign debt level and hopefully the uncertainty relating to taxes would be resolved in coming months. So hopefully both of those things would be resolved. Similarly there are other factors that come into play like tourism and crime, so to the extent that the government is able to address those issues it would also help.”

Lee said that among the key factors determining The Bahamas’ country risk premium is perception.

“It comes down to country credit ratings, two of the three primary models to determine country risk are both based on credit ratings, and even the country risk rating model it’s based on investor perceptions of the riskiness of investing in The Bahamas, so it really comes down to investors and others’ perceptions of risk,” she said.

February 28, 2014

thenassauguardian

Value Added Tax (VAT) is unfair, untimely, unreasonable and undesirable ... says Democratic National Alliance (DNA) leader, Branville McCartney

Vat Is 'Unfair, Untimely And Unreasonable' - Dna

Tribune242:


DNA leader Branville McCartney continued his push for the government to rethink the introduction of Value Added Tax (VAT), calling it an “unfair, untimely, and unreasonable” burden to place on the backs of Bahamians.

Noting that in September 2012, five months prior to the failed gambling poll, Minister of State for Finance Michael Halkitis, in response to the sovereign credit downgrade by Standard & Poor, indicated that the Government was planning to release its Tax Reform White Paper for public consultation “next month” (October 2012), Mr McCartney said it is clear from all indications that the idea of introducing VAT was well in play prior to January 2013.

“The Prime Minister confirmed this during the mid-term budget debate in February 2013 saying; ‘The Government is implementing a broad tax reform package that includes the introduction of a Value Added Tax (VAT) in July 2014. While that is an ambitious timeframe, I would note that we have had the benefit of detailed studies of the feasibility of VAT in The Bahamas’.”

Mr McCarntey added: “Mr Christie in the House of Assembly continued: ‘The White Paper (which was completed in September 2012) contains a fully articulated policy framework for VAT. Following the public consultation process, the Government will present a refined proposal, and advanced legislation to bring VAT into effect’. We are gravely concerned about Mr Christie who recently suggested to Parliament and the nation that the Prime Minister had high level talks with the Minister of Finance on the VAT issue.

“At this meeting the Prime Minister confirmed that the Minister of Finance, who apparently does not listen to the Prime Minister, was moving ahead on VAT and for this reason he (the Prime Minister) left him (the Minister of Finance) at home and would only let the Prime Minister speak.”

With these comments in mind, Mr McCartney said the public needs to worry that Mr Christie’s views are “schizophrenic” on this issue as he appears to be blaming “his alter ego for VAT”.

“Mr Michael Halkitis, the Minister of State for Finance, stated earlier this year that, apart from the imposition of Value Added Tax (VAT), the Bahamas has no other viable option to spark the required streams of revenue it needs to arrest government debt.

“However, Prime Minister Christie, speaking either as Prime Minister or one of his alter egos, stated that if anyone in the public sector has a better idea he is ready to listen. Numerous local and foreign consultancy groups later, we in the Democratic National Alliance ask, is this the same Christie who in 2013 rejected the Nassau Institute commissioned independent research study of ‘The Potential Impact of VAT for our country’ by Mr David Godsell accusing him of ‘distorting the truth’, and dismissed the DNA’s ideas as ‘nonsense’?

“Our country has not rebounded from the most devastating recession we have ever had and in light of the pending introduction of Value Added Tax we in the DNA are left to wonder if this current government truly cares about Bahamians. It cannot be fair for struggling hard working citizens of the Bahamas trying to make ends meet to now be faced with the fear of not being able to afford the basic survival items because of VAT. Moreover, the people of the Bahamas must be reminded that this government campaigned on putting people back to work and instead they now propose to put extra taxes on their backs,” he said.

At this time, the DNA leader noted, VAT is unfair, untimely, unreasonable and undesirable.

He said: “Mr Prime Minister there are alternatives… you just need to listen. Bahamians are living in a state of fear. Fear of crime, fear of increasing financial insecurity, and now, fear of VAT. There is no clear vision in sight from this group of merry men in the PLP. Their leader has been late, inconsistent and out of touch with the issues that face Bahamians daily.

“Our country is at a critical crossroad and demands that we make the tough decisions to lead our country to prosperity. We need strong dynamic leadership with a clear vision for our country. We need leadership that is not afraid to lead.”

February 24, 2014

Tribune 242

...Value added tax (VAT) is an inappropriate tax for a tourism-based economy

Value added-tax ‘anti-tourism’

Central Bank of Barbados chief says VAT system ‘a mess’ there and urges government to replace it with sales tax

By ALISON LOWE
Guardian Business Editor
alison@nasguard.com

BARBADOS – Claiming he has seen “declining enthusiasm” for the tax over the years in his own country, the governor of the Central Bank of Barbados has called value-added tax (VAT) an “anti-tourism” tax which has hurt its local industry and which he is lobbying to see removed there.

In an exclusive interview with Guardian Business on VAT and its effects, Governor of the Central Bank of Barbados Dr. Delisle Worrell, who has held the post since 2009, said that VAT is “horribly complicated” to administer and called Barbados’s own VAT system “a mess”. Worrell said that in his view a “simple sales tax” would be a far preferable means of revenue generation for the Barbadian government.

Admitting that his position on the tax is considered “very radical” among his colleagues and does not necessarily represent that of the bank as an institution, Worrell said that he has been opposed to the tax in Barbados since its inception.

The government of Barbados introduced VAT at a rate of 15 percent in 2010; it was later increased to 17.5 percent in 2010 for what the government at the time said would be a period of 18 months and has remained at that level since.

The economist, who has recently concluded a study on VAT for the Central Bank, said: “I take a very radical stance on VAT. I think VAT is an inappropriate tax for a tourism-based economy. The rationale for VAT is that it is an export promoting tax, because if you are exporting physical goods (VAT is not charged on) those goods, but the producers are able to claim refunds/rebates on their inputs.

“They are ‘vattable’ goods but because their sales are external you’re not going to charge VAT on the exports, only on the domestic sales. So if they are a sugar producer they will pay VAT on local sales but anything they export they won’t pay any vat on, but they will claim a rebate on all of their inputs. So there’s a bias in the VAT in favor of export industries; that is if you are exporting physical things that are consumed outside, but not if you are exporting tourism, because the tourists come to you to consume.

“So VAT is an anti-tourism tax if you are a tourism producer because it makes your tourism more expensive than the people who don’t charge VAT, and that’s why all tourism countries who apply VAT have to apply it at a lower rate. A simple sales tax would be much better.”

Barbados applied a 7.5 percent rate of VAT to its tourism sector when it implemented VAT in 1997. This was later increased to 8.75 percent when the general rate rose to 17.5 percent, but as is proposed in The Bahamas, the lower rate was only applied to room-related transactions, and other tourism services such as restaurants on the hotel property, tours, activities, car and boat rentals, for example, remained subject to the full rate of VAT.

Worrell suggested that a sales tax, something a number of Bahamian business owners and operators, most prominently Rupert Roberts, President of Super Value, have proposed, “a more efficient way to raise the same level of revenue” for the government of Barbados, or The Bahamas.

Confirming the fears expressed by a number of Bahamians regarding the administration of VAT, Worrell said it “puts a tremendous burden on government administrations” and businesses.

“It’s a very complicated tax, especially if you are selling services - what are your inputs? If I am making a cell phone I know I need silicon, I know I need different materials and so on so I can inventory the materials I’ve brought in and say for each cell phone I need X amount of these materials, it’s clear. But if I am an engineer and I am supplying engineering services, what are my inputs? And so it becomes horribly complicated,” he told Guardian Business.

With reference to the refunding of excess VAT paid to the government, the Governor confirmed that the government has not managed to pay these sums back to businesses in a timely fashion, despite interest being owed by the government to the business if it takes more than six months to pay the refund after it is owed.

“They are in arrears on refunds and they are also a known quantity of refund claims that are outstanding, and there are cases where the companies have claimed the refund and the VAT office has not necessarily accepted those,” he added.

On the plus side, Worrell said that VAT has been successful at raising revenue for the government. In a recent study, titled “A Review of the VAT system in Barbados” Worrell and his three co-authors at the Central Bank said there was “some gain” in revenue yield relative to the tax rate with the establishment of VAT in Barbados, but the administrative costs of collecting the VAT were higher relative to the revenue received than for the taxes they replaced.

Finding that VAT has been “less elastic and less buoyant” in response to changes in income than its predecessor taxes, the authors said that this indicated the need for “greater compliance” with the tax in Barbados, noting that the VAT division of the government could benefit from employing additional staff.

Asked yesterday if the Central Bank of Barbados is therefore recommending that the government of Barbados do away with VAT as a source of revenue, Worrell said: “Not the Central Bank - me.” He added that the government is not officially considering removing VAT.

February 21, 2014

thenassauguardian

Value Added Tax (VAT) is viable in The Bahamas

“VAT is Viable,” says Leading Auditor, Calls VAT ‘Most Equitable, Transparent’

Kendrick Christie, President of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners Bahamas Chapter asserted that “Value Added Tax (VAT) is viable in The Bahamas.”

“Business owners must be responsible with the information they purport as facts,” says Christie. “A lot of what I am hearing is at best anecdotal. The reality is the government is being prudent by aggressively tackling tax reform as the current tax system, led by customs duties experience high levels of leakage,” Mr. Christie explained. “VAT allows for enhanced checking ability for internal and external auditing and analysis that can be useful in business strategy.”

Mr. Christie’s comments come as the Bahamas debt is expected to reach just over $5 billion by June 30.

“The accounting profession has been conducting training for its members and the public for almost a year to ensure individuals are fully prepared for the transition to VAT,” Mr. Christie replied when asked about how prepared his industry is for VAT’s implementation.

“There will be opposition to any increase in taxes at any point in time,” Christie added.  “The truth is that to avoid downgrading of our fiscal and monetary position, the government must act. The government may feel that they are in a Catch 22, however, the decision is clear – a new tax system is needed and one of the most equitable and transparent is VAT.”

Mr. Christie complimented the government on its outreach to the different sectors of the business community. “It appears to be a multi-step educational process which started with the business community. I now note the consultation with consumers and I urge them (consumers) to prepare, ” he said , noting he expects the educational campaign to increase once the Value Added Tax Bill and Regulations are passed through Parliament.

VAT, since its introduction, has been the most successful fiscal tool worldwide for revenue generation.  No other taxation system has been adopted more rapidly than VAT and it has become the mainstay of national finances for developed and developing countries.

Bahamas.gov.bs