The Tribune

Forty-nine is behind us, the flag-waving, parades, retreats, the beer, barbeques and day at the beach are memories. Now we gear up for 50. We’ll wave larger flags with more enthusiasm, wear brighter colours, sing louder, party more. But no matter how much we shout 50 Years of Independence, the reality is that while we mark half a century of enjoying our independence with a capital I, we have to ask ourselves, how independent are we really with a small i?

Surely, we have every reason to celebrate 50 years of freedom from colonial rule. But as we mark five decades of self-governance, we need to be honest about the wiggle room we have in many of the most important decisions we make.

Watch what happens when the pressure is really on about corporate income tax.

Let me say at the outset I am – under certain conditions – not opposed to corporate income tax if other fees, including obscene business license and Customs duties are substantially reduced or eliminated. The current regime of three taxes – business license, Customs duties are VAT – is not sustainable.

Corporate income tax provides an opportunity for reform, swapping out onerous fees for a single known factor.

What cannot happen is for a corporate income tax to be imposed on top of other taxes. You cannot impose four taxes on the same income without causing businesses, many already struggling to keep their doors open and their staff on, without making them think twice about continuing to operate. You cannot impose four taxes on the same product or service without driving the cost of living up so high that you further threaten the survival of the middle class.

But taxes, once imposed, are harder to get rid of than an in-law who has nowhere else to live.

Last year, while we were all razor focused on driving away the devil named COVID, some 136 countries got together and signed a global tax treated setting a minimal tax rate of 15 percent for large multinational companies and to require them to pay taxes in the countries where they actually do business.

The Bahamas was not one of those countries, but one of 15 hold-outs who the IMF says cost governments $500 billion or more a year in tax revenue that would have been billed had companies not been registered or domiciled offshore in places like this nation, Anguilla, Cayman, etc.

Faced with the imminent reality of corporate income tax, there are measures we can take to mitigate and win with what little wiggle room we have. One, we can negotiate the rate. Despite the call for 15 percent, we can leverage the optics of compliance starting with 12.5 percent as other jurisdictions have with a gradual increase as other taxes are reduced or erased.

Few would argue against tax reform. The co-existence of Customs duties and VAT is a marriage made in hell for all businesses. Given that VAT requiring independent accounting is easier to govern and Customs has a history of corruption, the choice seems clear.

To compensate for funds now raised through the toxic combination of fees on businesses, the opportunity exists to Increase fees associated with the super high net worth individual who enjoys living in The Bahamas and will not be deterred from doing so by a gradual hike in Real Property Tax for homes valued at $12 million or more. Note gradual.

Optimize permanent residency regime to include oversight making sure the practice of buying a condo, getting residency and flipping it for a profit stops.

You can argue against corporate income tax all you want on principle. Everyone loves the thought of the little guy standing up to the bully. But in this David and Goliath play, businesses in The Bahamas are already losing. US corporate tax is 21 percent, the UK is 19 percent though with an increase later this year, Cyprus and Ireland come in at 12.5 percent and businesses in The Bahamas pay upwards of 30 percent with all three existing taxes – business license fees, Customs duties and VAT.

In the end, the cost of goods sold will be better monitored under a new tax structure and the winner will be the consumer. The truth is not easy to digest but that doesn’t make it less true.

Organic farmers - and proud of it

When the Agricultural Development Organization (Bahamas) was launched in January, the new non-profit said it wanted to boost food security in the country by restoring a culture of, and love for, farming.

ADO meet the couple behind Abaco Neem.

If any husband-wife team ever symbolized what a love for farming is, it is these two. Their names are Nick and Daphne Miaoulis. You may know of their best-known products, Abaco Neem, but you’d be surprised at what else they grow, including more than 107 varieties of fruit and flowering trees. There is hardly a specimen of fruit or flower or produce they do not grow. Tomatoes as fat and red and ripe as you will ever see. Greens so fresh you feel healthier just looking at them. Berries so juicy you feel the liquid running down your chin. There are bees galore and honey and every hour of every day, there is something to do to make sure that God’s green earth continues to give forth what Nick and Daphne’s hands and their helpers seeded, planted, ploughed, and cultivated.

Nick started the farm 30 years ago with 800 Neem seedlings on 25 acres of leased agricultural farmland. Abaco Neem remains the only certified organic farm in the country. Today the farm has some 8000 trees and 120 acres cultivated. Nick and Daphne continue to hope for a Crown land grant, wanting to call the land they have loved for three decades their own.

“The majority of our trees are Neem, coconuts, citronella and aloe all used in making our products,” says Daphne. Much of what they do is labour intensive, some of it back-breaking. The comeback after Dorian took every ounce of strength. After having to close their retail store in Marsh Harbour, they moved into a trailer on the farm itself becoming as self-sufficient as possible.

“Over the years, our passion has not wavered…We are proud Bahamian Farmers,” Daphne tells me.

ADO – if you want to know farming, Nick and Daphne could be your poster figures.