The Tribune

By Canon S Sebastian

Campbell

The late Archdeacon Willie Thompson brought a number of us, then young priests, together and challenged us to begin preparing our people for the inevitable tax reform.

That was the some 25 years ago when tax reform was defined as ‘income tax’. No other form of tax was probably conceivable at the time.

To our shame we did not carry out the charge; we didn’t see it ever coming, thinking we could forever dodge the reality of that which is inevitable.
Many Bahamians are shaking in their boots only because their leaders did not do their job.

But again the government is being blamed for the deficit in education in this complex subject of tax reform. It is waxing late and we the leaders of the largest constituency of people, the church, must rally to the call or be forever condemned as failing in our duty.
Bahamians should not be allowed to continue to live in fairy tale land. We must face reality, free of all politics and face the task of ‘paying the piper’.

Countries in the region have not only Value Added Tax (VAT) but income tax and other forms of taxation as well.

Now must be the time we stamp our churches with educational opportunities such as seminars and workshops, and let us be frankly honest with our people.

Probably we need to hear all sides, pros and cons, while knowing that some reform must take place.
Legalising the number houses is all part and parcel of this process.

We can no longer bury our heads in the sand and pretend it is not an issue that has literally caught up with us.

One must agree with Prime Minister Perry Christie that the referendum was a mistake; it should never have happened. But we must also recognise that it is never too late to do good, the right thing.

Much money has been made over the many years, not taxed for the good of the country; that is insane.

So many of our neighbours to the south have had this legalised for many years. Bahamians have contributed generously to the Florida lottery over many years, and lets not forget the Malta gambling we have shipped money to, even before I was born.

Indeed, the number houses and a national lotto should be in the same package. The debate to bring one and stall the other is really nonsensical.

I pray common sense will prevail as we struggle with doing the right thing in our move towards tax reform. We must not let generations to come grade us as being self-righteous and out of touch with reality.

It will happen and this is the generation called to put it on the ground. There is no getting around this.
Our prayers must go out for the government as it presses on to the inevitable. The church must give leadership and diffuse the politics for the good of nation-building.