...it is common knowledge that many of these web shops facilitate the illegal playing of numbers with their owners being an organised group of web shop bosses “who covertly engage in the illegal numbers racket.” - says Mario Moxey - Pastor of Bahamas Harvest Church

Another Pastor Sounds Off On Gambling Issue

By Ianthia Smith
The Bahama Journal

Another local church leader is weighing in on the controversial gambling issue and demanding answers into why the Bahamas Christian Council (BCC) has even entertained discussions with web shop owners.

Pastor of Bahamas Harvest Church Mario Moxey in a press release issued Thursday said it is common knowledge that many of these web shops facilitate the illegal playing of numbers with their owners being an organised group of web shop bosses “who covertly engage in the illegal numbers racket.”

“The We Care group, though holding themselves out as legitimate entrepreneurs, has in my humble opinion during recent news coverage, directly implicated themselves when identifying the true nature of their business, illegal gambling,” the release said.

“Clearly, they do not care and are not genuinely concerned with the development of our country as they claim to be; they are nothing more than organised crime bosses seeking to legitimise their ill-gotten gains.”

Pastor Moxey added that the idea of “organised crime bosses” meeting with Christian leaders to discuss the possibility of legitimising an “immoral behavior” is repulsive, reprehensible and offensive to many Christians in the country.

“The Bahamas Christian Council’s unified position has been clearly and unequivocally articulated by President Dr. Randolph Patterson: the Christian Council vehemently opposes gambling in The Bahamas,” he added.

“This position is consistent with the views of almost every major mainline denominational leader. Who then are these 20 prominent local church leaders who drank the Kool-Aid prepared by Dr. Phillip McPhee?”

The Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) Government has promised a referendum on the thorny issue by year’s end.

Recently, a number of pastors have had talks with We Care, the group representing web shop owners, in a bid to better understand their position and intentions for the country.

However, the move has apparently caused some ruckus within the religious sector.

“Their claim to have contributed $1 million to fund various organisations and sponsor community programmes, do not, in any form or fashion, justify or make more noble or legitimise the unsavory activities of these organised crime bosses, who are alleged to have made hundreds of millions of dollars off the backs of Bahamians,” Pastor Moxey continued.

“No more so can we rationalise, justify or legitimise the criminal activities of men such as Pablo Emilio Escobar, the boss of the Medellín crime family, who although responsible for the construction of many hospitals, schools, churches and football fields in Columbia, is credited with the murder of many innocent people and the destruction of millions of lives and families. No amount of money that these organised crime bosses say they invest for the benefit of our people can turn their evil to good, or erase the stench of their guilt, or their contribution to the deterioration of the moral foundation and conscience and the corruption of our society.”

He said it is very pretentious that these “unscrupulous organised crime bosses act as though they are interested in the betterment of our society, bragging about the money they have contributed while all along “raping us of our moral virtue and perpetuating criminal activity.”

“They are criminals, plain and simple,” he said. “And should not be applauded for attempting to bribe our society; instead, they should be arrested and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. How dare they openly expose themselves without respect for the rule of law or remorse for the crime they have committed against society?”

“I pray that they would all repent and ask God to forgive them for their sins. I challenge them to depart from evil and do good, and in true repentance and an act of generosity, if that’s what they are really all about, turn over all of their ill-gotten earnings to the government of The Bahamas to be used for the benefit of our people and our country’s national development.”

13 July 2012

JonesBahamas

Caribbean Blog International

Time to be realistic about gambling

tribune242 Editorial:


TO GAMBLE or not to gamble, that is the question.

Former prime minister Perry Christie believes that to legalise "the numbers business" in the Bahamas would have "enormous implications" for the tourism industry as well as "deep social implications."

Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham has met with the Christian Council, which really represents the Baptist voice, a voice that is rigidly against gambling in any form -- as a matter of fact it is a tenet of their religion. However, there are other churches -- the Catholics in particular -- that use a benign form of gambling - bingo and raffles -- to raise funds to help operate their schools and various other organisations.

From time to time the police have raided the various numbers houses -- including the largest one of all, the Flowers enterprise-- vowing that as long as gambling remains on the statute books they are going to enforce the law and stamp it out.

And then there are the people, who are making a fool of them all. The numbers game has become a part of their religion, and police or no police, law or no law, they intend to play the numbers. Why even police officers have been seen at the numbers window waiting to take their chance. And we know of Baptists who have asked for birth dates, hoping that playing those dates will flip a few extra coins in their pockets.

Meanwhile, crime grows in our communities and society needs protection. There are not enough police officers to go around, so the Christian Council will have to make up its mind and face reality. Do these men of the cloth want the police to chase the numbers man, and his patrons, or the gun-toting criminal who breaks into their homes, steals, rapes and murders? A realistic choice has to be made.

The Council is adamant that gambling should be stamped out, rather than legalised and controlled. The numbers racket has been allowed to go on far too long in this county, so long that even a police state would find it impossible to suppress it. If government listens to the Council, nothing will be done and the street corner numbers racket and Flowers' more sophisticated operation will continue to flourish. The people will continue to make a fool of the law, and the police will be stretched thin in trying to chase both the harmless and the vicious criminal. It is now time that the Christian Council faces reality.

In discussing the matter in the House of Assembly this was Prime Minister's Ingraham's realistic view of the situation:

"Now, Mr Speaker, this society on a Sunday morning, you go to the gaming houses, to Flowers and those places, and it is like a bank on payday - government payday. They are set-up like a bank, hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of places. Well, either we believe that it is illegal, or we believe that it should be legal," said Mr Ingraham.

"I told the commissioner of police last week, that it seems to me that we are unable to enforce that law, and that I was going to give consideration to legalizing the numbers business. Of course he didn't support me in that thinking, but the reality is that it is not an enforceable law. And the society is doing it everyday. There is webshop here, and a webshop there, all over the island," said the prime minister.

The phenomenon of webshops - gaming houses - have now spread across the Family Islands, noted Mr Ingraham, to places such as Abaco, Exuma and Bimini. He said of the phenomenon, "it's nationwide."

As it cannot be controlled, then manage it, and tax it to the point that its revenue can benefit all of the Bahamian people. Education, the medical facilities and sports all desperately need an infusion of funds to improve their services to the nation.

In Barbados, for example, the national lottery is made up of the Barbados Olympic Association, the Barbados Cricket Association, the Barbados Turf Club and the National Sports Council.

It was announced that GTECH Holdings Corporation has a management agreement to operate and manage the Barbados Lottery. During the 18-year agreement GTECH expects to generate revenues between $80 and $100 million.

Can one imagine what government could do with such funds?

The Bahamian people have already decided the issue. Regardless of the law, they intend to play their numbers. It would be better for all of society if this game of chance were decriminalized, taken in out of the cold and controlled by the laws of the land.

April 19, 2010

tribune242

Bahamas Blog International

The Bahamas needs tax and spending reform

By Youri Kemp:


I was listening to the news just recently, where Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham, who also is the Minister of Finance, said something to the effect that he would not lean against anyone broaching the issue of taxing the illegal numbers racket in The Bahamas, by virtue of taxing the internet cafés that are reportedly "fronts" for internet gambling businesses.

However, I'm not quite sure how easy it is to tax the numbers racket through internet cafés in The Bahamas. For starters, you have to have them recognize that they are, in fact, running illegal gambling out of internet cafés -- considering that the authorities have not been able to produce solid evidence in order to prosecute anyone allegedly gambling in these establishments.

Secondly, what about the internet cafés that are legitimate internet cafés? Can't tax them... can you? Lastly, if I am running an illegal gambling racket through an internet café, then why would I want to pay taxes to the government for something I have been getting away with for so long?

Even if you put the work out for companies to bid on a national lottery, you still would be left at square one with the internet cafés that run the numbers racket and their subsequent prosecution.

It is no easy task and good luck to the persons tasked with sorting it out.

More importantly, however, if we have come to a point where we are speaking in open forum about taxing the numbers racket, seriously, it signifies that the government feels that The Bahamas is at a juncture where it needs meaningful tax reform for government revenue; the government, clearly, is not generating enough internal revenue in order to meet its obligations now; and that the prospects of meeting the debt service, is very bleak with the current system of taxation.

To be very blunt: the government has to tax. However, the term "tax reform” isn't necessarily supposed to have a negative connotation or stand for a pejorative slight of hand.

The word "tax", does evoke personal sentiments for obvious reasons and the word "reform" -- especially used by politicians -- is a code word of sorts for the refocusing of entitlements and simultaneously as a buzz word for business persons, which signifies more and unnecessary regulation. Which to business people means more time away from their business and more time dealing with a governmental agency with mentally challenged employees.

To be fair, government employees aren't mentally challenged -- although some who look like they shouldn't be makes one wonder -- and everyone doesn't understand what reform signifies -- either which way -- and no one wants to pay more taxes.

The truth is, however, The Bahamas government is in debt to over 40 percent of GDP -- with a widening deficit. Another clear fact is that The Bahamas doesn't have any streams of government revenue, other than from import taxes (where it gets over 50% of its revenue), National Insurance contributions, revenue from public corporations and government agencies and also through forms of public service charges and real estate; i.e., vehicle registration and real property tax.

Conversely, the Bahamas's tax to GDP ratio is about 18 percent. Which isn't that bad, considering Barbados, Jamaica and Trinidad is at 32, 27 and 38 percent respectively. But, The Bahamas isn't just like any other Caribbean country -- we do things a little different.

Firstly, we don't produce many agricultural products for mass consumption in The Bahamas, neither do we have a large export sector in terms of people involved in exports, away from the concentrated profits some firms make.

Another concern that compounds the lack of efficient and beneficial dynamism in the market place as it relates to an optimal and targeted tax mix is the reliance of import tariffs for government revenue.

While The Bahamas does not produce over 80% of what it consumes, and with the tax system as basic as it is, it has to tax imports heavily. As a consequence, this puts consumers and more importantly, low income consumer, at a disadvantage as the tax burden is disproportionate to what they spend on taxes in relation to what larger corporations and high income earners pay. For example, a 50 percent flat tax on all consumer goods means more to someone who makes $20k per year than someone who makes $100k per year and a flat rate for business licenses, means more to the small business person than it does for a large corporation.

Moreover, large industries such as banking and shipping, are virtually untouched as it relates to taxation -- no capital gains or corporate tax. Even the export of fisheries products is untouched as they relate to export taxes.

Some may argue that these low taxes are the reason why these industries are so dynamic and successful. However, there is more to a successful enterprise than just low taxation -- location, barriers to entry and diversification, comparative and competitive advantages, come first and foremost for a successful enterprise.

More importantly, inequitable or no taxation, can be more destructive than high taxation. For political reasons, the need to keep such high-end entitlements incentivises corruption. Also, with regard to adequate funding for social programmes, people wishing to engage in such specialised enterprises face high entry costs that the consumer and subsequently the state ultimately must pay for.

Those additional barriers,decrease the tax base as persons begin to spend more of their disposable income in an effort to obtain the training and skills necessary to compete in and for what the marketplace offers, in addition to the high cost of private investment into such specialised enterprises.

What makes it worse is if the perception of risk through sacrifice made by individuals does not facilitate for the full cycle completion on endeavours. Or, the high cost for entry is private market based (cost for capital investment and cost for private education), where the government does not have a progressive, optimal tax mix and that tax mix model is not synergised to assist with the equitable development of the industry at all levels.

When such market failures occur, the government must spend on socio-economic policies that develop infrastructure and human capital.

Through all of this, I must state that the issues are more complex than just taxation. We need more bang for the buck and a re-engineering of our socio-economic programmes, in addition to doing more with respect to meaningful tax and spend policies that encourage economic growth, as well as lowering the private and public entry barriers to enterprise and skills training.

Before we begin the discussions on what forms of taxation we should have -- VAT, excise taxes, etc... -- or what types of spending we must endeavour, we must begin to frame the minds of citizens and add to the conversation of what the economic importance of tax and spending reform is and what that means to us all, as I hoped this article addressed.

April 19, 2010

caribbeannetnews

Bahamas Blog International