“There is a brave new world on the horizon and this crew can’t take us there.
The crew that is there now just cannot take us there because they are not BRAVE enough to understand that you listen to the IMF (International Monetary Fund) but you do not have to implement what the IMF tells you”
Philip ‘Brave’ Davis this past Friday as he attempts to pander to the public’s fears and outrage of the increase of the rate of Value-Added Tax (VAT) this past week, but while he suggests that the current Free National Movement (FNM) administration is too weak to stand up to the IMF he seems to have forgotten why his Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) government implemented VAT in the first place and will also say whatever that is necessary to distract the public from what is actually being proposed.
“BITTER PILL – VAT to jump from 7.5% to 10%” – The Nassau Guardian 31st May 2018
Excerpt from this article; “Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Peter Turnquest revealed yesterday that value-added tax (VAT) would increase from 7.5% to 12% effective July 1.
The increase in VAT is expected to bring in an additional $400 million in new revenue.
In his 2018/2019 budget communication, Turnquest said the government must find a way to pay off its ‘massive backlog of arrears’ and set the stage for pending reductions in customs duties when The Bahamas accede to the World Trade Organization next year.
‘To address that challenge, we are proposing a three-year fiscal strategy what will allow us to both deal with the assorted fiscal pressures that we face in 2018/2019 and beyond to meet the deficit targets each year.’ Turnquest said.”Anyone that has taken the time to read this budget will see it for what it is; an attempt to seek to do that which past government’s budgets have failed to do and that is lower our debt and deficit by primarily lowering the rate at which the government borrows. “

For example, unfortunately, one of the largest government expenditures was salaries and the only way to lower this cost was by lessening persons on the government’s payroll because it had became practice for past governments to use the government system as way to pay back party loyalist in an attempt to gain favor and votes with and from the people. They hired people at a rate that we as a country was not able to sustain, so while the people worked, the country was slowly going broke and at this rate they would have eventually ended up working for peanuts due to the eventual consequence of this unchecked practice – a devalued dollar.
Now the opposition claims that the people have been betrayed by “The People’s Government”; the Free National Movement(FNM) but all successive governments actually betrayed the people by offering them false hope, fixing the books and kicking the ‘economic can’ down the very same dirt road.
“No more kicking the can down the road for someone else to clean up. We are making the tough choices, understanding that the redress of our fiscal situation does require real sacrifice on the part of our citizens; however, by doing so, the country will reverse its spiraling debt situation and set itself up for success in the medium and long term.” – Peter Turnquest.
Indeed, there is brave new world out there but again the Hon. Philip ‘Brave’ Davis has been caught napping and therefore totally unaware that his world is unfolding right before his eyes, because this current Free National Movement (FNM) administration is doing what he [Brave] and other governments were not “brave” enough to do
END