The Tribune

By KHRISNA VIRGIL

Tribune Staff Reporter

kvirgil@tribunemedia.net

THE government has not decided if there will be any compromises over its new aviation tax increases.

Michael Halkitis, Minister of State for Finance, says while there is an ongoing dialogue with major airlines over the hike, the government’s overall objective is to ensure that it collects adequate revenues to run the country.

He said: “(We don’t want to) force people out of business or cause hardship. When we did the budget, we thought we would be able to strike a balance. Of course some people feel differently and we discussed. (But) where we think that there is some room to do some sort of accommodation of course we’ll do that.

“We are listening to a number of individuals, but I can’t say at this point that it will cause us to backtrack or change. It’s just a matter of hearing key points.”

He was speaking to reporters during a press conference at his office on Thursday.

With that, the chief executive and owner of Sky Bahamas Captain Randy Butler is questioning whether this move considers the long term implications for the Bahamas. He told The Tribune that he had not been involved in any discussions with the government over the tax increase.

“The thing that worries me is the question of who is really handling the wheel and driving this government. When they can tell us that there has been the loss of around 50,000 airline seats, then surely someone is not looking out for us.

“Most of these folks come here depending on the subsidies whether through the Family Island promotion board or however the government does it. If they are increasing the taxes, we need to look at how are we going to prop up our destination and it seem that there is not plan in place.”

The processing fee, upon its implementation months ago, sparked the threat of a major cut back from US airlines coming to the Bahamas.

It was a threat, Minister of Tourism Obie Wilchcombe said, the economy could not afford.

The new tax was announced and introduced in the House of Assembly during the yearly Budget debate, but officials did not meet with the airlines prior to the increase.