Value Added Tax (VAT) and Healthcare Cost in The Bahamas

Warning on VAT healthcare implications

GEOFFREY BROWN
Guardian Business Reporter
geoffrey@nasguard.com

Value-Added Tax (VAT) Private Sector Education Task Force Co-chair Jasmine Davis said yesterday that vatable healthcare will have “huge socioeconomic implications” for the country’s workforce if not readdressed by the government.

Davis told Guardian Business that the task force continues to push physicians and healthcare facilities to register for VAT to avoid incurring penalties, but stressed that the medical community will continue to lobby for exempt status simultaneously.

“Medical services as described in the act are essential services, and it has huge socioeconomic implications. What we don’t want to see is persons opting out of getting healthcare,” said Davis.

She pointed out that the tax on healthcare would not only affect lower-income households, and anticipated that businesses would shift the additional 7.5 percent of healthcare costs onto employees.

“What would result is that we would have a sicker populace, which means that people will not be working, which means that dollars will not be moving through the economy, which means that the amount of money that is expected to be derived through taxation will not happen,” she said.

Davis could not provide a figure for the number of healthcare professionals registered for the tax to date. However, she claimed that the sector is making good progress in registering.

Davis also reasserted that healthcare and education are benefactors of the VAT system in other jurisdictions that have implemented the tax.

“Funds from taxation are normally earmarked for healthcare and not the reverse, where healthcare is taxed to reduce the deficit,” said Davis.

The Ministry of Finance recently clarified that national exams and other education services will be exempt from VAT. Given these exemptions, Davis argued that healthcare was planned to be exempt from VAT up until the last revision of the tax’s legislation tabled in July.

November 28, 2014

thenassauguardian

Sir Arthur Foulkes Pays Tribute to Warren Levarity

Tribute to Warren J. Levarity

By SIR ARTHUR FOULKES

• The following is a tribute given by Sir Arthur Foulkes at the state funeral for Warren Levarity on November 20 at Christ Church Cathedral.

On behalf of my wife, Joan, and on behalf of all the Foulkes family, and for myself, I extend to Warren’s wife, Vera, their children and all his other relatives my deepest sympathy on his passing. We share in your loss. I share in your loss.

My dear friends, it was a day or two after the 1962 general election in which the Progressive Liberal Party got more votes than the ruling United Bahamian Party but won far less seats. I was sitting at the head of the News Desk at The Tribune office on Shirley Street when Warren Levarity came up the stairs and entered the newsroom. I stood up to greet him.

There was no conversation. We embraced and said two words to each other: “My brother!” Then he turned, walked down the stairs and left the building. There were quizzical looks on the faces of those who witnessed this scene. Warren and I were both defeated candidates in that election, which many expected the PLP to win.

The significance of that brief encounter was that we were part of a group of men who knew the minds of each other. We understood what had happened and, more importantly, we knew what we had to do next.

It was an era of unrest, confrontation, and intense political activity in The Bahamas. Party politics had come to the colony; there was agitation for electoral reform; the trade unions were restive; Bahamian women were agitating for the vote; there was growing impatience with racism, and the ruling group was as intransigent as ever.

There were five bye-elections in 1960. Four in New Providence were mandated by British Secretary of State for the Colonies Alan Lennox-Boyd. He visited The Bahamas after the 1958 General Strike and ordered the creation of four new seats in New Providence as a concession to demands for electoral reform.

As expected, the PLP won all four of those seats. But the bye-election in Grand Bahama was another matter. It was the result of the elevation of the constituency’s representative to the Legislative Council, and nobody expected the PLP to win in a Family Island stronghold of the ruling party against a candidate supported by them.

So the party’s leaders gladly accepted the offer by Warren Levarity to show the colors in Grand Bahama. He was from a highly respected family having been born in West End. He had graduated from the Government High School and he had professional training abroad.

They also knew that he was a member of the National Committee for Positive Action, a radical group that was beginning to play an increasingly important role in the progressive movement. What few people knew was that this unassuming, soft-spoken gentleman was possessed of high intelligence, a keen analytical mind and an extraordinary aptitude for politics.

With only his limited personal resources and little or no help on the ground, Warren confronted the awesome election machinery of the oligarchy and campaigned across the length of the island. He won the bye-election, even though he had to petition the courts before he could take his seat as the representative for Grand Bahama.

Warren’s surprising victory sent shock waves through the political camps on all sides and was a major turning point in the fortunes of the progressive movement. A number of educated and highly qualified Bahamians who had hitherto looked askance at the PLP, and had kept their distance, now realized that if the UBP could be defeated in Grand Bahama then perhaps they could be defeated in the country. They joined the party.

After the defeat in 1962 the NCPA decided that the party’s image had to be burnished and its message more effectively tailored. It was time now for greater effort, and for personal sacrifice. Along with his colleagues, Warren did not believe in the kind of politics that was driven by the prevailing winds.

He shared an intense commitment to conviction politics, going against the prevailing winds if that was necessary. He shared the belief that leaders should work to change negative opinions, however popular, not pander to them.

He believed that leaders should communicate grand ideas and articulate noble aspirations, not mislead people with sound bites and empty slogans.

He also believed that leaders should be prepared to pay the price of their convictions, and not to seek the side on which the bread is buttered.

So in 1963, after months of garnering support, assembling resources and securing equipment, Bahamian Times started to publish from a little house on Wulff Road that had been converted into offices and a print shop. This effort was spearheaded by Loftus Roker, Jeffrey Thompson, Warren and others. Warren was manager and I was honored to be editor. This is what we knew we had to do.

There was little bread – and no butter at all – but the little house on Wulff Road became not just a newspaper office but a magnet for others who wanted to help, to talk about the challenges, to contribute ideas for the future, or just to share in the excitement.

One of those who came regularly to help in the day and stayed for many late nights of discourse was my good friend George Smith who became a successful candidate in 1968.

The response to Bahamian Times was quite astonishing. We could not print enough. People lined up outside the Wulff Road office to get copies as they came off the press. At long last, we were saying what they needed to hear, telling them what they deserved to know, and pointing in the direction they desired to go.

Calvin Neeley picked up newspaper boys Brendan and Dion in his taxi and took them as far as the airport to sell the paper. Each copy was handed from hand to hand and some were kept as mementos up to this day. But despite Warren’s best efforts, only a few small business houses were willing to advertise in the paper and so our bread was in short supply and sans butter.

Bahamian Times contributed significantly to the historic victory in 1967. Warren was appointed minister of out island affairs and demonstrated that he was not only good at politics but was also an excellent administrator. The work he accomplished in one year, with the cooperation of his colleague Minister of Works Cecil Wallace Whitfield, contributed significantly to the PLP’s overwhelming victory in the Out Islands in April of 1968.

Now it is difficult to find in history a good revolution that went entirely according to plan, one that fulfilled all of its noblest ideals, one that was not undermined by hubris, cupidity, egomania and other negative influences. The Quiet Revolution was not immune to some of these negative influences, and one of the early casualties of power was the collegiality that had made success possible in the first place.

The storm clouds gathered and, for Warren, euphoria quickly turned into disappointment. Once again his courage and willingness to sacrifice for what he believed were to be put to the test and once again he did not fail that test.

So on the floor of the House of Assembly one night in 1970, with an angry, hostile crowd outside, Warren, with seven others, voted the truth of his conscience, and precipitated a chain of events that was to result in the formation of a new political party, the Free National Movement.

It was effectively the end of his political career. He was never re-elected to the House again. But in later years he was secure in the knowledge that he had made yet another significant contribution to his country. He had helped to provide for the Bahamian people an effective check on the power of the day and a viable political alternative for the future.

If heroism is to be measured by service to noble ideals, by the performance of great deeds, by the exercise of extraordinary courage, and by the willingness to make great sacrifices, then Warren James Levarity fully qualified as a national hero of the first order.

Permit me to borrow from the poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow to say that the star of the unconquered will rose in Warren’s breast, serene, and resolute, and still, and calm and self-possessed.

May his noble soul rest in peace.

 

• Sir Arthur Foulkes is a former member of Parliament, Cabinet minister and governor general.

November 26, 2014

thenassauguardian

Fred Mitchell responds to Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS) - Jose Miguel Insulza ...about his remarks on "round ups" in The Bahamas of Haitians ...and the immigration policies of The Bahamas

Immigration Minister Responds to Comments of OAS Secretary General

By Robyn Adderley - BIS:






FREEPORT, Grand Bahama – Minister of Foreign Affairs and Immigration the Hon. Fred Mitchell during a press conference at the Ministry for Grand Bahama on Friday responded to a report emanating from the press of Jamaica that during a visit to Jamaica, the Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS) Jose Miguel Insulza made comments about the immigration policies of The Bahamas Government. The report in indirect speech said that the Secretary General had referred to "round ups" in The Bahamas of Haitians.

Minister Mitchell said no reports of “round ups” of Haitians should have been made by the office of the Organization of American States as the organization had been briefed on the Immigration policies of the Bahamas Government.

Minister Mitchell continued, “last evening, I instructed the Ambassador to the OAS Dr. Elliston Rahming to make an immediate call to the Secretary General for an urgent clarification of this report.” The Minister said he will meet with the Secretary General in Washington shortly.

Also present during the press conference were Minister for Grand Bahama, the Hon. Dr. Michael Darville and Mr. Hubert Ferguson of the Department of Immigration.

Minister Mitchell said he had not intended to comment publically about the content of the proposed meeting as the concerns raised by the Secretary General had been raised earlier with Bahamian officials. Minister Mitchell further stated that he has been advised that the Assistant Secretary General has been fully briefed on the policies and by extension, the organization. “Therefore any suggestion of the round up of people should not have been expressed from that office.

“The record will also show that I have repeatedly said: we do not round up people, you round up cattle.”

Minister Mitchell continued, “On 1^st November, The Bahamas government put in place a simple administrative measure to stop fraudulent practices in applying for work permits and to ensure that all people who have the right to live and work in The Bahamas are fully documented.

“Immigration checks have been ongoing since we took office in 2012. Nothing new in that direction has occurred.  We have repatriated over 3000 people since the start of the year to their home countries. Another two repatriation flights will follow next week.  The Detention Centre is now at capacity.

 “This report is yet another example of the unfortunate and ill informed commentary about these simple measures,” said Minister Mitchell.

Having spoken with Human Rights Activist and attorney Fred Smith yesterday in public, said the Minister, he said he told Mr. Smith “his comments where the policies were described as ‘ethnic cleansing’ were entirely unhelpful and extreme, particularly since there is nothing on which to base any such an assertion. The words are inflammatory and can lead to incitement. He needs to withdraw those comments and the defamatory statements made about immigration officers that are Gestapo like and involved in institutional terrorism.

“The intentionally inaccurate commentary often arises because of people in this country making wild and unfounded claims. There has not been a single report of abuse of any kind by any immigration officer reported to us since 1^st November.”

Minister Mitchell said the other major political parties, the Free National Movement and the Democratic National Alliance, have indicated they have not heard of any either.

“I will be speaking to all countries in our immediate neighborhood in a few days to ensure that these false assertions do not make their way uncritically into some human rights report and then becomes a way of describing what goes on in The Bahamas.”

He further stated, “This is a completely open and transparent exercise. There has to be oversight by NGOs and there is oversight by them and by the Department of Social Services. The Department has a formal role. The NGOs have access to information and review upon request. Nothing is hidden. No particular group is the target of this exercise and people should stop spreading that falsehood. They should also stop using the term round up because no such exercises have taken place.”

With some speaking about the authority of Immigration officers on a constitutional basis, Minister Mitchell had this to say, “The power of arrest is contained in the Immigration Act. The constitution says that in the exercise of that discretion such an officer can do so only when there is a reasonable suspicion of an offence having been committed, in the process of being committed or about to be committed. The Immigration Department is aware of the constitutional standard and does not violate that standard.”

November 21, 2014

Bahamas.gov.bs

Fred Mitchell citizenship warning in order

By Dennis Dames



I have read the Nassau Guardian’s editorial of Monday, November 17, 2014, entitled: Mitchell’s citizenship warning was unhelpful. Firstly, the words of Ms Daphne Campbell, a Florida state representative were nationally offensive and troublesome to most Bahamians when she called for tourists and businesses to boycott The Bahamas over our country’s immigration policies. Secondly, to add insult to injury, Ms Jetta Baptiste, a naturalized Bahamian of Haitian descent, who presently lives in the USA, agreed publically with Ms Campbell. This further inflamed Bahamians; and it was a devastating mistake on Ms Batiste’s part -- in my opinion.

The citizenship warning was in order, in my view, as no one really knows how far persons are prepared to go in order to be heard on the issue of illegal immigration in The Bahamas. Ms Baptiste is in her rights to express her perspective; but she needs to understand that we Bahamians have feelings and she has hurt so many with her concurrence with Ms Campbell – a foreigner. Ms Baptiste has created many lifelong enemies in The Bahamas. So, it might be in her best interest to consider citizenship in another country.

The Guardian’s editorial focused on the rights of an individual to express oneself under the law. It did not talk about a loose and ungrateful tongue, and the damage which is instigated by it. Ms Baptiste has unwittingly revoked her own Bahamian citizenship by supporting evil and disgusting foreign elements against the Bahamian people and nation -- in a very damning fashion.

Let’s face it, we are not fighting a war against government immigration policy detractors as The Nassau Guardian might feel. Our fight has more to do with the internal chronic disunity among us Bahamians, and our political gangster mentality that affects our progress as one people.

Attorney Fred Smith, QC says: Recent immigration raids carried out as a part of the government’s newly implemented immigration policies is institutional terrorism

Attorney Calls Immigration Raids “Terroism”

The Bahama Journal


Attorney Fred Smith, QC yesterday defended his comments calling recent immigration raids carried out as a part of the government’s newly implemented immigration policies institutional terrorism and called on all those living in The Bahamas to stand up and defend their constitutional rights.

Mr. Smith, who serves as president of the Grand Bahama Human Rights Association said in an interview with the Journal Sunday that his comments were neither inflammatory nor meant to create an emotional uproar, but he charged that the government’s new policies and subsequent tactics are in breach of the constitution.

“The abuse that people are being subjected to in this country whether they are of Haitian extract or people who have entitlement to status – everybody in The Bahamas is entitled to all the protections of the constitution,” he said. They don’t become outlaws because they are of Haitian heritage.”

Mr. Smith, who contends that for 40-years he has challenged the government’s immigration policies, said there is a process the government must follow and he maintained that raids are illegal.

The attorney charged that the government’s new policies are only breeding “Haitian hatred and discrimination.

“I’m concerned with the government respecting peoples’ rights,” Mr. Smith said.”My language is not inappropriate for the circumstances when you see children being forcefully separated from their parents – people being dragged out their homes – people being hunted down like dogs in the bush my language is soft.

“I urge people in The Bahamas be they Haitian or Haitian extraction or Bahamians or foreigners whites, blacks or browns like me to stand up for their rights or else The Bahamas is going to go the same way as the dictatorship in Haiti under [Francois Duvalier] Papa Doc or many of the other dictatorial nations in the world.

“Abuse of human rights, inhuman and degrading treatment will not be tolerated.”

In an earlier press release, Mr. Smith said: “There is no legal requirement for a Haitian or anyone else living in The Bahamas to travel with their work permit or other form of identification. No officer of the law has the right to detain anyone for failure to produce the same, and any policy that includes such provisions is an outright violation of our laws.

“The Bahamas is not Guantánamo Bay. We do not simply detain people without due process and the legal authority to do so. The GBHRA calls on the government to cease and desist from this inhumane policy immediately, and replace it with one that is in accordance with constitutionally-mandated due process and the rule of law.”

November 17, 2014

The Bahama Journal

The Bahamas has a shantytown problem and illegal immigration problem ...due to the lack of political will and interest to remedy the same

The failure of the state and the illegal immigration issue

The Nassau Guardian Editorial

Foreign Affairs and Immigration Minister Fred Mitchell held a news conference recently. He was responding to the comments of a man of Haitian ancestry that were aired on ZNS. The man made threats against Bahamians in an interview during a demolition at the Joe Farrington Road shantytown.

“Where [do] they want the people them to go?” the man asked.

“They want them to be homeless? They want them to go on the streets? You see what [I’m] saying. People like them force people to do bad things on the streets.

“…They have to understand that there are more Haitian-Bahamians in this country than Bahamians. And we [are] not scared. They don’t want to start something that they can’t finish.”

His statements were widely circulated via social media.

During the interview, the man added: “Like how I feel [I’m] ready to put the Colombian necktie on these [people].”

While that part of his statement was not aired, it was circulated on social media. The Colombian necktie refers to a method of killing that involves the victim’s throat being cut horizontally.

The matter was referred to the Royal Bahamas Police Force. Mitchell called for calm.

“All patriotic Bahamians and law-abiding non-nationals in this country should refrain from responding in this matter in a way which would approximate taking matters into your own hands. This is time for a reasoned response,” he said.

“There are agencies of the government that are responsible for protecting the integrity of The Bahamas, and they should be allowed to do this work. Suffice it to say that this matter is being taken seriously.”

Mitchell is right that the remarks caused outrage. Many are concerned about our illegal immigration problem when it comes to Haiti. Years of inadequate action by our state have led to shantytown proliferation across The Bahamas.

We have always known where these communities were. We drove past them. We commented on them. Yet nothing was done to permanently remove these illegal communities. Hence, they grew, and more and more Haitians came here because we are permissive of open illegality. We are the same way with numbers houses. Gambling remains illegal for Bahamians and yet the web shops were allowed to expand.

Despite the problem, Bahamians should not be unduly angry with Haitians. Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. We want all people who come to our country to come here legally. All peoples who are in desperate situations in their homelands, however, attempt to flee to a safer, more prosperous place in order to save their lives. Many Bahamians are in the United States, legally and illegally, for example, in search of better lives. It is ultimately up to states to ensure their borders are secured and that their laws are enforced. Our state has done a poor job doing these things.

We have all the laws and all the security personnel needed to clear all shantytowns in The Bahamas. The problem has been political will and interest. During this term in office, the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) has made some moves to clear some shantytowns. This progress has been slow, however.

The Bahamas has a shantytown problem and illegal immigration problem because we have not cared to enforce our laws. If we did not allow people to build sprawling illegal communities, they likely would never have come here. As a people, we need to be angry with ourselves and with our governments for allowing lawlessness to prevail.

The shantytown called The Mudd, for example, is in the middle of Marsh Harbour. Despite the tough words of the immigration minister, it is likely to still be there when he comes up for re-election. We talk. We get angry. But we have failed to act decisively in this country when it counts.

November 15, 2014

thenassauguardian

Who is Jetta Baptiste?

By Monte A. Pratt:

The Ungrateful Traitor, Jetta Baptiste

[WHO IS THIS WOMAN THAT IS ATTACKING THE BAHAMAS?] – NB: This is Facebook Post I made a week ago in response to one of Ms. Jetta Baptiste Haitian supporters:

Well, let me deal with your first question. Yes, for your information, as a former business owner in Freeport, I do know a LOT of Jetta Baptiste's activities and her Haitian Bahamian Society in Grand Bahama.

Firstly, Jetta Baptiste grew up in Grand Bahama, where she got her education and learn her profession, as a News Reporter / Writer with The Tribune and The Freeport News. She and her family were well accepted in the Grand Bahama Community, where they eventually received Bahamian status and passports.

Yes, I know quite a bit about Ms. Jetta Baptiste, as President of the Haitian Bahamian Society, and of her charitable works through her Jetta's Multi-Service Centre, 37 Hearne Lane, Freeport. Ms Baptiste did an EXCELLENT job in helping HER PEOPLE in getting the Bahamian people.

You see, my businesses and many other businesses in Grand Bahama, then made donations to many charities and organization. This included Ms Baptiste's organization, The Haitian Bahamian Society that collected food, clothing and donations to send to Haiti during disasters.

Ms Baptiste was a driving force behind this, as she met with church and business leaders in Grand Bahama on sending relief to Haiti. As a result, Grand Bahamians, individuals, charities, businesses and churches, ALL give food, clothing and donations to relief the Haitian people displaced by hurricanes that hit Haiti.

This is the very same, Ms Baptiste that is now posting all these MEAN and NASTY statements about the very same Bahamians that helped her PERSONALLY and her Haitian people collectively. Ms Baptiste, how soon she can forget how the Bahamian people helped her and her Haitian People during the many disasters that hit HER country.

I note here, the TRUTH is, Ms Baptiste once applied to Government for Creole Language / Radio Station. This application was REFUSED, and it is alleged, PM HAI, responded to her this is The Bahamas, and not Haiti.

I now believe, this radio license refusal is the ROOT of the HATE Ms Baptiste now hold in for The Bahamas. She now only proves to be an OPPORURTUNIST, by the agenda she is now promoting all this FOOLISHNESS in the media. She and Mrs. Daphne Campbell are two of a kind, opportunist.

For this reason, I am VERY ANGRY with Ms Baptiste and her efforts to damage The Bahamas, as it is because of The Bahamas, Ms Baptiste is who she is today. She is now in America working, because of the knowledge she gained from Bahamians, who trained her in profession works.

YOU HAITIAN PEOPLE ARE TOO UNGRATEFUL... It is no wonder, you get one disaster after the other. Our God does not sleep. The TRUTH is, you people need to turn from your WICKED WAYS!!

 Monte A. Pratt - Facebook CrossFire