The Tribune

EDITOR, The Tribune.

In a day and age when honesty is a rarity among members of the political class, it was refreshing to hear Social Services Minister Melanie Griffin admit that poverty increased due to the global recession which began in late 2008 under the former Ingraham administration.

Judging from the campaign narrative of her party in the lead up to the General Election, one would assume that Hubert Ingraham was the one most culpable for the economic crisis which diminished the middle class and drove the poor deeper into poverty.

You rarely heard anything about the recklessness of Wall Street, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae and the crucial role they all played in running the US economy to the ground.

But then again, many Bahamians have a parochial view of the world and The Bahamas’ relation to it. That is now all in the past.

For what it’s worth, the PLP ran a shrewd campaign and it worked like a charm.

In 2014, we as Bahamians must now face the sobering reality that more than 43,000 persons in this country live on an annual income of less than $5,000 a year or $13.69 a day.

Griffin admits that Valued Added Tax (VAT), which will come on stream on January 1, 2015, will mostly affect this demographic.

The implementation of VAT at the rate of 7.5 per cent coupled with normal customs duty rates will only compound matters for Bahamians, particularly those earning minimum wages and those living below the poverty line.

These poor, struggling Bahamians will soon have to make a choice between buying food or paying their BEC bill or paying the landlord or taking the jalopy to the auto mechanic.

Griffin and Prime Minister Perry Christie both anticipate an influx of poor Bahamians turning to Social Services for help, once VAT kicks in.

What this government is unwittingly doing is causing more and more Bahamians to become welfare addicts. And with the already increasing number of young Bahamian mothers turning to prostitution to put food on the table for their families, VAT plus custom duties will exacerbate their dilemma. No amount of spin can change this sobering fact.

I only wish Ryan Pinder and Michael Halikitis were as candid as were Christie and Griffin about VAT and its potentially devastating impact on the poor.

But what can one expect from people who were raised with platinum spoons in their mouths?

KEVIN EVANS

Freeport,

Grand Bahama,

June 12, 2014.