Christopher D. Lowe
So, the Budget Communication is due to be read from the house on the 26th of this month and promises to be interesting at least.
Hence the question, are we ready?
Ready for what is usually unpredictable and unfathomable at first, not Gazetted properly, and seldom understood by the civil servants responsible for implementing the changes.
In Freeport, we usually have to wait until the 12th of June to get written confirmation as to what the new Customs rules are, and of course as in the most recent year we had to pay $300 for a copy of the new tariff code book, or $150 if we bought a “copy” from a local stationer.
We also have a unique situation, in that a number of businesses practice what is in effect a “sales tax” albeit based on import tariff not retail price, and so therefore cannot profit or lose by duty rate changes.
Problem is, those businesses do not know the duty rates to charge on goods if there are changes on the 26th and there is no notification until June 12th. It is handled at the point of sale.
Maybe we can all take a holiday until notified.
The fact that the Government does not even acknowledge this potential, even when they themselves champion their intent to join the WTO which requires a normalization of import tariffs, and their intent to implement alternative forms of taxation is astounding, in that they have the perfect beta testing site for just such a move without writing any more botched up legislation.
Now, I know it drives them crazy in that, they perceive they are “losing” dozens of millions if not $100 million in duty revenue annually from Grand Bahama but are they really? After all they never had it in the first place. There was no city in Grand Bahama to yield such a revenue stream before the Hawksbill Creek Agreement which grants this concession to business licensed under the Port Authority.
Not that the Government honors the Hawksbill Creek agreement, proof being the hobbled state of the island and the abrogation of so many of the Port Authorities responsibilities, obligations, and their total collusion with the Government to the detriment of Bahamian and foreign licensee alike.
Perhaps if Perry Christie can follow through on his threat to revoke the Arawak Cay freight facility, it should put us all on notice that anything can be revoked?
I wish the villages would reclaim their idiots.
