A prominent businessman has argued that it is wrong that the government will not tax the numbers industry \u201cwhich wants to be taxed\u201d and could have provided \u201chundreds of millions in revenue\u201d, while seeking to impose valued added tax (VAT)\u2008on the rest of the business community.<\/p>\n
Ethric Bowe, head of the Carmichael Business League and president of Advanced Technical Enterprises, suggested that the government\u2019s decision to implement VAT\u2008was in part fueled by the public\u2019s decision to vote \u2018no\u2019 on regulating the numbers sector.<\/p>\n
However, he charged that the government should look again at taxing the unregulated and highly profitable sector.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust recently we had an opportunity to raise $100 million a year reliably with a tax that would\u2019ve been welcomed by the people who would\u2019ve been taxed.\u00a0 We had $100 million right there, we voted on it and we said \u2018no\u2019.\u00a0 We had a choice, tax those fellas over there who are willing to be taxed.\u00a0 We said no but we still need the money, so now we have to go to someone else.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe ought to tax every enterprise in this country.\u00a0 I can\u2019t be making $100 million and not pay taxes; something is wrong with that.\u201d<\/p>\n
In January of 2013, the<\/p>\n
government held a referendum on whether to regulate the numbers industry.\u00a0 In a vote in which turnout was reportedly low, Bahamians rejected this possibility and to date operators have continued to conduct business as usual.<\/p>\n
On Monday, Stephen\u2008Thompson, the recently-appointed coordinator for the National Anti-Money Laundering Taskforce, suggested that \u201cdiscussions\u201d are again underway on regulating the sector.\u00a0 He argued that anytime an unregulated sector exists that generates \u201cmillions\u201d, regulation is \u201cthe only responsible thing to do\u201d.<\/p>\n
Thompson suggested an external review of this nation\u2019s susceptibility to money laundering could prompt renewed scrutiny of the numbers sector, along with many other financial sectors, as a national risk assessment is undertaken to document potential weaknesses.<\/p>\n
However, it is not clear what direction the government will take with respect to numbers.<\/p>\n
Bowe said he harbors deep reservations about the ability of the government to implement VAT by July 2014, calling it \u201cimpossible\u201d due to a \u201clack of capacity\u201d.<\/p>\n
He added that companies will have trouble accessing the private accounting resources they need to implement the new tax.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe really have some questions to answer because the resources we need to comply, we don\u2019t know where they are coming from.\u00a0 We\u2019ve been trying to recruit bookkeepers for the normal running of our business and we have issues of the most difficult kind.\u00a0 I don\u2019t see how we are going to be able to do it throughout the nation by July (2014),\u201d said Bowe.<\/p>\n
The businessman feels that ultimately Bahamian fiscal woes cannot be corrected without addressing low levels of productivity in The Bahamas.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have got to get our productivity up.\u00a0 Fundamentally it will take teaching and preaching and we need all our pastors and churches to keep telling Bahamians we must deliver a full days pay for a full days work.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf I\u2008am paying you $9 an hour you\u2019ve got to produce more than that for me.\u00a0 We must get productivity and service up in The Bahamas because we are in dire straits.\u00a0 It\u2019s our core problem.\u201d<\/p>\n
Source: The Nassau Guardian<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A prominent businessman argues that it is wrong that the government will not tax the numbers industry, yet seeks to impose valued added tax (VAT)\u2008on the rest of the business community.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_10223285771444175_51037792744":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[153,137,40,142,108,556],"class_list":["post-42023","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-business","tag-business-2","tag-gambling","tag-government","tag-incompetence","tag-taxes","tag-vat"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42023","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42023"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42023\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42023"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42023"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42023"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}