The business section of The Guardian presents my friend saying investors will have more confidence in The Bahamas is we implement VAT. Quite to the contrary the investors who are here and the ones Fred met with in Dubai all think we should avoid VAT like the plague. It is unnatural to want to give up money you have earned. Additional taxation is the last thing that should be done. Every working man and woman deserves to keep as much of their earned income for themselves and their family. Inheritance is unearned and should be taxed. What investors really like is clean, efficient government. Corruption discourages many investors though it attracts the worst investors. Investors love it when policies are clear and business friendly. Investors love it when they can go through processes easily without having to pay for privileges under the table or through intermediaries. It is clear that the fight is on to maintain the status quo. What is happening is the Bahamas is the few who have the most are fighting to get all. If opportunity was more fairly distributed in The Bahamas the rich would still be rich - perhaps even richer. But greed is driving many opportunists to try to get all while their party is in power. When the government switches we shift to another set of opportunists. All of this is done at the taxpayers expense. All of this discourages investors and investment. There is nothing about VAT that is particularly encouraging to legitimate investors. The more money that stays in the pockets of the people, the more attractive investors find the place. All investors hate big government. Especially big wasteful, ineffective, corrupt governments. We have to bite the bullet and swallow it. We have to stamp out corruption. Everybody must pay their taxes or nobody should. Everyone living off the public trough should especially pay their taxes. Some people, including politicians must be held accountable for collecting the taxes. All must pay. But to publicly fail to pay and there be no consequences is the loudest sign of corruption! This is the clearest sign of what ails the Bahamas. Corruption is a cancer that scares seasoned investors because they know the rot will infect whatever they invest in at some point. Where the law is applied unevenly investors know there is no justice. Investors need and want an efficient, fair and honest court (judicial) system. We have a long way to go. We can start by being honest to The Bahamian People. VAT will make most people poorer! The way to overcome this is to become more productive or more efficient.
Posted on: Fri, 14 Mar 2014 10:34:35 +0000
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