There is only one group that can take your money and we have no recourse, and you guessed it, that group is the government.

If you don’t pay those taxes, the government can throw you in jail or close your business down. But the reality is there is a need for revenue to pay for the legitimate expenses of the government. We can debate what the legitimate expenses of the government might be, but that is for another day.

Thomas Sowell said:

The real goal should be reduced government spending, rather than balanced budgets achieved by ever rising tax rates to cover ever rising spending.

And that is a goal worth pursuing, but in the meantime some Bahamians seem to be untouchable where paying taxes are concerned.

Recent articles in the press outline what seems like an endless cast of characters and lots and and lots of money that is allegedly owed to the public treasury.

The latest revelations are by the Auditor General in his 2006 report presented to parliament last Wednesday.

According to press reports some $410 million dollars of property taxes remain outstanding. Some of it for years.

I’m sure that some of this will go uncollected, but it is important that we hear what the government proposes to do about the offenders without delay, particularly as revenues might be expected to decline with the economy.

Once this is under control then we can talk about reducing government spending and work toward downsizing the size and scope of government and the taxes necessary to keep its wheels turning.

As P.J. O’Rourke tells us:

Every government is a parliament of whores. The trouble is, in a democracy, the whores are us.

It’s quite obvious though, that some of the whores get away with much more than others.

Sometimes it sure seems as if the pirates are still among us.