In a letter to the editor of The Tribune, published Monday, November 25, 2013, someone calling themselves, "A Hardworking, Loyal Civil Servant", offers a somewhat defensive missive about tax cheats and admonishes; "Pay your taxes".
He or she is right that far too many people and businesses, as the old joke goes, allegedly pay Customs officers, instead of the Excise Tax, because they are dishonest. Regretfully though, and far too often, a civil servant is equally culpable as they aid and abet the smuggling.
Is "A Hardworking, Loyal Civil Servant" overlooking some important points?
Maybe some taxpayers resent the fact that other people are just escorted through without paying taxes by other loyal civil servants, so do the same?
Do some folks think the excise rates are too high and therefore declare only a fraction of their imports? As the Laffer Curve informs, taxes can be raised to the point that they obtain less revenue.
One of the most obvious things being ignored is that it is the responsibility of the civil service bureaucracy to enforce the laws that mandate the taxes being avoided.
This in no way implies that tax cheats are right in doing what they are accused of by "A Hardworking, Loyal Civil Servant", but it does suggest there is more than enough blame to go around. Fixing the problem so more tax dollars – outlined in existing laws – are collected by weeding out corruption seems to be necessary.
Having said all that, it is agreed that there are many hardworking and loyal civil servants labouring under some very difficult circumstances, but the apparent bad apples are not helping their cause by being co-conspirators.
While there may be honest hardworking Civil servants in isolated pockets of the Government,
they would have to have given silent consent to the obvious fraud and improper practices of others, for reasons of simple self preservation/job protection.
The corruption is endemic, rampant, along with abuse of power, losing of documentation, skimming and almost absent reprimand, demotion or prosecution,
It could well be beyond repair.
In any case, a massive “get back to the rule of law” educational effort would have to be made, including re-assigning the incompetent.
This business of petty, lower level Civil servants hamstringing application processes and denying service has got to stop, along with Political interference, both being largely responsible for the economic stagnation.
Excellent observation as usual Oracle.
Someone else also pointed out on Facebook the issues at Cabinet as well continually frustrating the hardworking, loyal civil servants.
We ‘ave too many of dem, full stop! … and on top of dat, dey should all be forced to retire between the ages of 55 – 60 to ensure we have a fresh throughput of ideas and diverse skillsets to keep our Governments fresh (rather than stale and bereft of ideas as they have been for the past 40 years!)
Right on S3S,far too many.Between that overload & the reckless spending is why we are in this condition right now.The hard working ones must be in the back because I have not found them in the front.
When the British turned our territory over to us, to become the Commonwealth Country The Bahamas,
they left us a perfunctory and functional system of rules and regulations,
We immediately set about dismantling said system, and replaced it with……..
an endlessly recycling stream of Bahamian Permanent secretaries, familiar with the rules but subject to Elected official whim countermanding the rules.
moving them from one destroyed dept to another, endlessly forgiven of any and all transgressions save the one and only way to get “ejected” from that system, countering or disagreeing with an elected official.
Is it any wonder we now sit where we do?
Thanks in a big way to Sir Lynden Pindling & co.That’s where they learned all of the stupid tricks,similar to what the Bahamian Vets have just done to the stray dog neuter program, that’s what reminded me of the old PLP nonsense.
What did the Vets do?
They stopped all the foreign vets from coming in with phase two of the neuter program that they were doing for free.The Bahamian vets want to charge $50.00 each.Now which vets here are going to pick up stray dogs off the street & do that ? What nonsense.
The best and worst aspects of our customs and traditions have been learned from the British (who picked up more than a lesson or two from the Romans, Anglo-Saxons, Vikings, Huguenots and all else, who populated the British Isles over the centuries).
Our problem is that we chose to adopt the worst of these practices. So if history is a guide, and ‘past is prologue’, then we need somebody else to point us in a new direction (because if we are incapable of innovating ourselves out of this mess we’re in, then we need direction and it shouldn’t really matter where it came from, should it?
Should not but apparently it does.
I remain convinced corruption is the biggest issue.
And you are correct Sir !
Mutual admiration aside, has anyone thought that being a hardworking and loyal civil servant is an oxymoron??
The fault my good friend is in ourselves and not in our heritage.. Being in need of direction is most true, but it does matter where it comes from.. The “new direction” you call for regretfully has come from the IMF is both wrong and a tragedy.. No new innovation here, just more Keynesian failure.. We know we can do better, if only government has the sense to listen..
Perhaps Tradewinds,
But it was not always so….
This transformation we do own……
Discarding the best,
rewarding the worst,
along political party lines,
Loyalty first.
When it takes over two and a half months to get documents for a domestic charity reissued and processed, I do not believe anyone is working very hard.. In most other competing jurisdictions, it would take only a few days at most..
Immigration is even worst, forcing many companies to close their doors and leave our shores.. Where it can take five or six months to get a work permit approved or renewed, it can take less than a day in Mexico..
This has been going on for well over forty years and creates a poor reflection on our country and costs the Treasury additional revenue.. So much for hard working and loyal civil servants who so often are not very productive and are loyal mostly to themselves.. There are probably many exceptions, but I have yet to have such an experience..
The whole Bahamas government is in disarray because that is the mentality of the people that were given political appointment jobs.They are the ones that are put in key positions because of their “Connections” period.There is a slack do not care attitude among the majority of government workers & even Ray Charles could see that.I personally feel that had Mr.Ingraham prosecuted those he should have after the commission of inquiry then there might have been more accountability in this country from all concerned,instead he to let his “friends” go Scott free & the rest is history as they say.