by Harry Strachan
I have a simple request for any of our Ministers of Finance, Messrs. Christie, Halkitis or Pinder, to answer. Please, would one of you explain to us simple Bahamian folk why we should need yet another tax, when it seems to be accepted, certainly by the I.M.F., that we are not collecting all the taxes already in place? Apparently they estimate only 26% of Taxes are collected now! This is an horrendous and scandalous admission, especially as this same I.M.F. is, so we are lead to believe, actually pushing government to instigate this Very Awful Tax.
Mr. Christie, the names of the people or entities who owe taxes are on record; I think, before we, the VERY long suffering Bahamian people are instructed to open their, wallets, purses or pocketbooks for yet another tax, are surely entitled to know who is causing this problem. Open those records, sir.
December 27, 2013
I understand and share your frustration, but my gut reaction is we should avoid name and shame.
If the various government agencies did what they are mandated to do, there would be much less abuse in my view.
Just enforce the law Mr. Christie, enforce the law.. What are you afraid of? Too many politicians and political hacks will be exposed to the tax fraud they are guilty of committing.. Law abiding Bahamian citizens only want tax fairness and to have the guilty charged and punished to the fullest extent of the law.. We have become a nation of privileged characters that have become a law unto themselves.. Your government and successive governments have done little if anything to punish the corruption that characterizes our nation.. Your fiscal policies such as VAT will only severely punish the Bahamian people as the lash of unemployment and poverty will be felt daily on our backs and wallets..
Stop this insanity Mr. Christie, enforce the law, restructure government down to scale and show some leadership by bringing your renegade-like Cabinet under control to service the National Interest and not their individual or party interests.. The National Interest of the Bahamas MUST always be first and foremost in our government’s thinking.. If we have no National Interest we have no country or homeland.. Please give us back our national pride that makes us Bahamians.. Empty and false pronouncements are meaningless as they originate from empty hearts, void of pride and national integrity.. We need your help as we cannot do it alone.. Give us back our country..
That is so excellently said, Tradewinds, thank you
The most blatant and easily seen oxymoron,
is the failure of enforcement coupled with the writing of new laws!
Does this indicate that some laws are more important than others?
Herein lies our failure, as all laws should be equally applied,
without fear or favor.
If only that were true.
But to point, and to be technically correct,
Clean up your current mess before you plan another party!
Stop and look at the confusion, mayhem, and general disarray your policies and actions have created!
Return to the straight forward rule of law that we inherited but failed completely to maintain and respect.
All I see is legislated band-aids,
applied by un-ualified doctors,
that do the hemorrhaging patient no good at all.
The greater the number of laws, the lesser the legal enforcement.. We have far too many laws on the books which yields far less enforcement and justice.. No wonder we are in such a terrible mess as there is no judicial order or due process governing our archaic system of jurisprudence.. What is rather frightening is that the criminal element in our society know it and have no fear of law enforcement..