The Tribune

By LYNAIRE MUNNINGS

Tribune Staff Reporter

lmunnings@tribunemedia.net

FREE National Movement leader Michael Pintard yesterday accused the Davis administration of offering “April Fools’ economics,” arguing that the Davis administration’s latest cost-of-living measures are politically motivated and long overdue.

Mr Pintard was responding to Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis’ national address on Sunday night, during which he announced the complete removal of VAT on all food, excluding hot or ready-to-eat meals, sold in grocery stores, effective April 1.

“With only months left in a five-year term, and in the face of his imminent political retirement, Prime Minister Davis delivered a national address that relied more on performance than proof,” he said in the statement.

“What was presented as reassurance amounted instead to smoke and mirrors, a package of shameless campaign cuts designed to distract a frustrated and increasingly impatient nation, rather than confront the real cost-of-living pressures Bahamians face every single day.”

He said the decision to implement the VAT cut on April 1 was not lost on the public, noting that families have endured nearly five years of rising prices, shrinking pay cheques and delayed relief.

“If these measures were truly essential, Bahamians would not have had to wait almost five years to see them,” Mr Pintard said, adding that the FNM has consistently called for VAT relief on food and essential items since 2021.

He pointed out that opposition MPs warned against reapplying VAT to previously zero-rated items in December 2021, called for VAT removal on breadbasket items in April 2022, and repeated those calls throughout 2023 and 2024 as food and electricity costs climbed.

Mr Pintard also criticised the Prime Minister for celebrating the removal of VAT on items that his administration had previously raised from zero to ten percent, while continuing to attack the FNM over earlier VAT increases.

“The Prime Minister boasts about dropping VAT to zero on items his own government raised from zero to ten percent,” he said.

“And while he continues to attack the Free National Movement over VAT increases in the past, he conveniently omits that he himself sat in Cabinet as Deputy Prime Minister when VAT was first imposed, taking it from zero to 7.5 percent.”

Beyond affordability, the FNM leader said the Prime Minister’s address failed to confront major national issues, including immigration, crime and healthcare.

He said there was no acknowledgement of widespread public concern about immigration enforcement, no clear plan to restore confidence in the system, and no serious reckoning with crime, noting that murders remain more than 30 percent higher under the PLP than under the last FNM government.

Mr Pintard also said the address ignored ongoing problems in the healthcare system, including medicine shortages, overworked staff and long wait times, while pushing a new hospital project that does not address existing failures.

He further questioned the government’s transparency, citing the unsubstantiated claim that more than $120m was collected from the sale of the Grand Lucayan resort, the proposed Mayaguana port project involving 3,000 acres of Crown land, and undisclosed terms of public-private partnerships.

Mr Pintard said economic pressures remain severe, pointing to slowing growth, rising debt and high unemployment. He noted that public sector debt stood at $13.149bn at end-June 2025, up $440.9m year over year, while a University of The Bahamas study found that a middle-class family of four now requires more than $10,000 per month to maintain a basic lifestyle in New Providence and Grand Bahama.

“Affordability is not just about VAT,” Mr Pintard said. “It is about whether a paycheque can cover groceries, electricity, rent, transportation, school expenses and healthcare without constant sacrifice.”

He said Bahamians deserve “honest leadership, real accountability and a serious affordability strategy,” adding that such leadership would not come from “April Fools’ promises.”

During his national address on Sunday night, Mr Davis announced that VAT on all food sold in grocery stores will be reduced to zero as of April 1. The exemption will apply to fresh produce, baby food, frozen items and packaged goods, but not to hot or ready-to-eat meals.

Mr Davis said the measure is intended to ease persistent cost-of-living pressures and forms part of broader efforts to address food prices, electricity costs and housing expenses.

He also announced expanded property tax concessions for owner-occupied duplexes and triplexes, as well as widened concessions for first-time homeowners.

The Prime Minister defended his administration’s VAT policy, noting that the standard rate was reduced from 12 percent to ten percent after the PLP took office in 2021, and that VAT on food was cut from ten percent to five percent last year before Sunday’s announcement eliminated it entirely.

Mr Davis linked the policy to economic recovery efforts, citing improved credit ratings, the country’s removal from international blacklists and more than $10bn in new private-sector investment since 2021.

The move represents the latest in a series of VAT adjustments under the Davis administration. After coming to office in 2021, the government reduced the standard VAT rate from 12 percent to ten percent, reversing an increase introduced in 2018. Last year, VAT on food was cut again, from ten percent to five percent.