The Tribune

By KHRISNA VIRGIL

Deputy Chief Reporter

kvirgil@tribunemedia.net

WHILE some observers continue to criticise the Christie administration over the way it handles government revenue, Prime Minister Perry Christie admitted yesterday that it could be easy to “piss away” public funds.

Speaking to scores of people gathered at the University of The Bahamas using what he referred to as “rich” language, Mr Christie used the “very graphic expression of annoyance” as he insisted that his government is not wasting tax dollars.

“Those of us in public life must be accountable for the positions we hold and have the capacity to be able to do it,” he said during an address at an event to commemorate the renaming of two thoroughfares surrounding the university.

“And so if I am described as the Minister of Finance you want to believe that I made myself understand that.

“Even though I have a brilliant young man in (State Minister of Finance) Michael Halkitis, a graduate of the College of the Bahamas, I have to be able to challenge him. Because it is so important to recognise how easy it is to piss away money.

“Excuse me for the language. That’s what you call rich language and one day you will have to teach it as a very graphic expression of annoyance by definition,” Mr Christie continued.

In a statement posted to his Facebook page, Free National Movement (FNM) Leader Dr Hubert Minnis chastised Mr Christie for his choice of words, which came weeks after he stuck his middle finger up while on stage at a Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) rally.

Mr Christie later expressed regret for the action.

“Prime Minister Christie is at it again,” Dr Minnis posted. “On what should have been a memorable day in the history of the University of The Bahamas, Christie’s colourful language is again on display. After ‘flipping’ the country a few weeks ago, one would think that he should be advised to be more careful and conduct himself in a manner of a Prime Minister during his remaining days in office. ‘Loose lips, sink ships’ and this PLP ship is sinking deep in a red sea.”

Last week in the House of Assembly, Mr Christie was adamant that the $1.14bn in Value-Added Tax (VAT) revenue collected by the government in 2015 and 2016 had not been “frittered away” or spent “surreptitiously”.

He gave an extensive explanation of VAT revenue since the matter was reignited following the PLP’s convention in January, when Mr Halkitis made his controversial “Where the VAT money gone” speech.

Mr Christie told members of Parliament it was a “worrisome” and nonsensical misconception that his administration mishandled VAT money. This issue, he said, needed to be put to rest once and for all.

VAT was implemented on January 1, 2015, at a rate of 7.5 per cent on most goods and services.

Mr Christie said while VAT collections are automatically sent to the Consolidated Fund, where revenue is “indistinguishable” and not earmarked for any one purpose, it goes toward three categories of reduction.

These include tax reduction, funding of expenditure and deficit and debt reductions being the residual outcome. He was adamant that the government had been “crystal clear” from the outset that the administration’s programme for tax reform had manifold objectives.

Despite VAT yielding more than $1.1bn, Mr Christie said there was a vast impact on recurrent government revenue due to the elimination of the hotel occupancy tax, VAT refunds and other tax reductions. These amounted to a total reduction of $344m in revenue foregone since the introduction of VAT, but the net impact on revenues to the government was $756m.

He told the House that in summary, 40 per of the VAT revenue went towards reducing the deficit, 30 per cent replaced revenue foregone from tax reductions and the remaining 30 per cent went towards general expenditure.