“Davis calls budget ‘height of incompetence” – The Nassau Guardian
Excerpt from this article; “Calling the 2018/2019 budget communication a disaster filled with inconsistencies, Opposition Philip Brave Davis said yesterday the government’s fiscal agenda demonstrates the ‘incompetence’ of the Minnis administration.
He branded the budget as nothing more than poor management.
Davis insisted the government must make changes.
‘The government has created a nightmare for businesses because of its failure to plan,’ said Davis in a statement referring to the revelation the government will increase value-added tax from 7.5 percent to 12 percent effective July 1.”

Before I get into my thoughts on this tax increase, I would like to address Opposition Leader ‘Brave Davis by first saying that the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) Budget 2014/2015 hinged on the success of Baha Mar and Value-Added Tax (VAT) both of which the PLP managed to make a mess of, and also by referring to page 43 of same said Budget Communication delivered by the Hon. Perry G. Christie; excerpt from this communication; “The key point in this recommendation is that , should we [the Progressive Liberal Party government] fail to meet our fiscal debt target, the VAT rate would automatically be increased by law”, so if anyone believes that the Christie administration actually met [their] fiscal debt target” during their time in office, that person would be lying to themselves; so therefore if the PLP had won VAT would have most like “automatically increased by law”. With that being said the only point that anyone in the PLP has to stand on is the present’s government’s failure to consult with the general public on this issue, so we will look at this point.
While I do defend the position of the present government to increase taxes to “pay of its massive backlog of arrears” and set the stage for pending reductions in customs duties when The Bahamas acceded to the World Trade Organization, next year.
‘To address this challenge, we are imposing a three-year fiscal strategy that will allow us both to deal with the deficit targets next year.”, I had question why would something of this magnitude be announced with such a short window for the country to make the necessary adjustments?
Then there is the issue of the massive tax being imposed on some of the “number boys”, while many may feel it is alright to tax this industry heavily, I personally feel that a 50% plus on some of their earnings is a bit much; it almost seems personal. Now if it is or is not is none of my concern, I am just saying I feel it is a bit unfair, especially in light of the manner that some other corporations/businesses are being taxed.
I feel that if the government is looking to increase revenue and address the massive backlog of arrears, the value-added tax could have been raised to 8.5-9 percent and a corporate tax imposed on the larger businesses that would benefit from the tax concessions but be unfazed by the increase in the rate of VAT; this would be the only way, in my opinion, to not only achieved the desire objection but also seem fair to all while actually being fair to all.
As I noted before, I support the VAT increase based on what it hopes to accomplish but I hope that during the ongoing debate on this matter, the slight increase in VAT along with a corporate tax is considered, because I feel it is the best option to tax ‘evenly’ and ‘fairly’ if you are going to impose taxes.
My final words, to Philip “Brave “Davis, due to the fact that the budgets that you and your administration ‘crafted’ were so poorly managed that they only produced four downgrade, unless you are actually going to bring something of intelligence to this discussion on how to move the country forward and get it out of the hole that you and your administration left it in, then please for the love of God be quiet.
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