The Tribune

By FAY SIMMONS

TRIBUNE Business Reporter

jsimmons@tribunemedia.net

THE BAHAMAS Chamber of Commerce and Employers Confederation (BCCEC) is urging the Government to focus on collecting revenue already on the books, tighten spending and improve fiscal transparency before considering any new or increased taxes.

Don Williams, the Chamber’s chairman and acting chief executive, said The Bahamas needs to ensure its existing revenue system is working properly before asking businesses and residents to shoulder additional tax burdens.

“So, from the Chamber's aspect, in terms of the Budget for the country, we look forward to the Government making fiscal changes in terms of decreasing costs, but also finding proper ways of gaining their income or tracking their income properly without having to add new taxes,” said Mr Williams. “Let's collect what's already on the books, keep it current, keep it accurate, and also be transparent in respect to reporting.”

His comments come as debate continues over whether The Bahamas should eventually move towards a progressive tax system, with some economists arguing that the country will need to broaden its tax base to strengthen government revenues.

Mr Williams said the Chamber is preparing to form a tax committee to examine possible measures and determine how the country can develop a fairer and more equitable tax system without undermining the competitiveness of Bahamian businesses.

“As the Chamber, we're actually forming a tax committee to be able to look into possible tax measures that the Government can take,” he said. “The reason being is that we need to have fair, more equitable taxes for all. It's not just about adding a new tax. It's not just about adding a new system. It's how do we ensure that industries are being taxed fairly?”

Mr Williams said any reform must take into account the need to keep The Bahamas competitive internationally. “We do not want to tax ourselves out of the global marketplace,” he said. “We want to ensure that we're doing what's necessary for the Government to be able to have revenue for things such as infrastructure.”

He pointed to the recent challenges surrounding Bahamas Power & Light (BPL) as an example of the consequences for businesses when critical infrastructure is unreliable, noting prolonged power disruptions have resulted in significant costs and lost revenue across the private sector.

“BPL has been a consistent issue for the past couple months for businesses. It has impacted them dramatically,” said Mr Williams. “Some businesses have had to close. Some businesses have had the issues whereby they've had to lay staff off. Others have lost business, obviously, because of the time frame.”

He added that companies have also been forced to absorb additional costs, including investments in generators, while businesses that were unable to operate during prolonged outages lost revenue.

Mr Williams said this highlights why government revenue must ultimately be directed towards infrastructure and other areas that support the economy, but argued that improving the existing fiscal framework should come before introducing additional taxes.

“So, in terms of tax reform in our country, it is like I said earlier. One, we need to go back to proper budgeting. We need to go back to proper transparency, and we need to manage our expenses, our income, how it's coming in,” he said.

“That's really the first and foremost in terms of reform that we need to take into place before we go and we now say that we want to add additional taxes on the country.”

Mr Williams said the Chamber's tax committee will therefore look beyond the question of whether to introduce a particular new tax and instead examine how the overall system can generate sufficient revenue while ensuring businesses remain competitive.