Well, well, the long awaited "White Paper" on the implementation of VAT so the Government can increase its revenue was presented to Parliament on Wednesday.
Download the tax paper here... In other words our cost of living is about to increase at an even faster rate.
First of all Bahamians need to rethink the idea that Governments should be allowed to borrow and spend with impunity and then decide they just need to take more money from taxpayers! They pass laws to make the private sector and individuals accountable yet they give themselves a pass on their own culpability.
Want to bet dollars to donuts that within five years Bahamians will be taxed at rates equal to or above those in Barbados if more serious spending reforms are not instituted? For the record, in 2011 Barbados taxpayers paid a VAT (17.5%), Personal (33% Avg) and Business/Corporate (25%) Income Tax and Import Taxes from 40% to 150% or higher. Read more here… and here (PDF)...
These new laws should come with a warning label: Savers and taxpayers beware!
And don't forget those that they have to exempt proving how the policy is inadequate from the get go. If it's fair, why are some people/companies given a pass?
Of course, those that govern will somehow convince most Bahamians that the increased taxes will be for our own good or the rich just need to pay more.
My stomach is turning already and as history proves, the devil is in the details of legislation, not the language used in an attempt to make it palatable.
