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The Bahamas Chamber of Commerce and Employers Confederation does not support the taxation of web shops as an alternative form of raising revenue, CEO Edison Sumner said Monday.<\/p>\nThe Bahamas Chamber of Commerce and Employers Confederation does not support the taxation of web shops as an alternative form of raising revenue, CEO Edison Sumner said Monday.<\/p>\n
Mr Sumner clarified the confederation\u2019s official position on the matter amid controversy over whether or not the government should reconsider the decision to tax the unregulated industry.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe certainly don\u2019t want to be seen supporting what we consider to be part of the informal economy,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cLogically the decision would be either you regulate them and tax them, or do what has to be done on the government side and shut them down.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think that the referendum has already spoken pretty clearly to that,\u201d said Mr Sumner. \u201cThe people chose not to have it. If the government is gonna follow the people\u2019s mandate, then it has to be shut down. If they\u2019re going to change that mandate, whether it\u2019s going to be by act of parliament or otherwise, then the industry has to be taxed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Last week, Gaming Board Chairman Dr. Andre Rollins said the government should tax web shops to boost its revenue, allowing for a phased implementation of value added tax.<\/p>\n
Mr Sumner said: \u201cThat is a discussion we\u2019re having internally, we haven\u2019t made any formal decisions on that yet, but we do have a concern about anyone operating in the informal economy where the (wider) economy does not benefit, the government does not receive its taxes from those industries and businesses outside of those operating in that industry may not be benefiting either. So we want to ensure that there is a level playing field.\u201d<\/p>\n