By CHESTER COOPER, PLP DEPUTY LEADER AND SHADOW FINANCE MINISTER
After familiarizing myself with the late, incredibly verbose and sometimes misaligned Fiscal Strategy Report, I have yet to identify a clear strategy for economic growth – which is what the government should be primarily focusing on at this time.
What I do see is an administration that once again runs to impose additional taxes on the Bahamian people and further starve capital works that could spur the economy.
The administration that railed against value-added tax then raised it, is now looking to a legalized gaming industry it opposed to shore up its fiscal position.
Progressive Liberal Party Deputy Leader Chester Cooper.
NASSAU, BAHAMAS Opposition Shadow Finance Minister Chester Cooper yesterday asserted that the government has yet to identify a clear strategy for economic growth, while slamming many of the forecasts in the recently released Fiscal Strategy Report (FSR) as “fanciful”.
Cooper, in a statement on the FSR that was tabled in Parliament on Wednesday, said: “I have yet to identify a clear strategy for economic growth which is what the government should primarily be focusing on at this time.”
He added: “What I do see is an administration that once again runs to impose additional taxes on the Bahamian people and further starve capital works that could spur the economy. The administration that railed against value-added tax then raised it, is now looking to a legalized gaming industry it opposed to shore up its fiscal position. The irony is breathtaking. Of course, we hear no talk of taxing the winnings of foreig
Casinos make a greater contribution to the Bahamian economy than Gaming Houses
NASSAU, BAHAMAS Attorney General Carl Bethel yesterday defended the implementation of a gaming tax on winnings for only Bahamians, indicating that casinos, which are exclusive to tourists, make a far greater contribution to employment and economic activity throughout the Bahamian economy.
While presenting the Fiscal Strategy Report in the Senate on Wednesday, Minister of State for Finance Kwasi Thompson announced that starting January 1, 2021, the government will implement a long-planned gaming tax on winnings to help counter significant revenue losses.
However, the gaming tax on winnings will not apply to casinos.
Minister of State in the Ministry of Finance, Senator the Hon. J. Kwasi Thompson provided an overview of the Government’s 2020 Fiscal Strategy Report on Wednesday, December 16, 2020 in the Senate, which the public can review in detail on the official budget website: www.bahamasbudget.gov.bs. (BIS Photo/Ulric Woodside)
Nassau, The Bahamas - Senator J. Kwasi Thompson, Minister of State for Finance explained that the Government will continue to reduce the economic effects of COVID-19, by providing initiatives targeted at public health and safety, job protection and social and economic support for households and businesses.
“The levels of direct support required by the government to save lives and support commercial and economic activity to the end of October has been unprecedented. The Government has kept its promise that this unprecedented crisis would be met with an unprecedented response,” Sen. Thompson said as he presented the Fiscal Strategy Report (FSR) in th
Economist s concerns on higher refinancing rates Little progress on multi-billion public pension woe
By NEIL HARTNELL
nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
The Government was yesterday warned that talk is cheap when it comes to The Bahamas mounting fiscal and economic woes, as governance reformers demanded: Let s see some action.
Robert Myers, the Organisation for Responsible Governance s principal, told Tribune Business we ve heard it all before with the Government s Fiscal Strategy Report laying out little that was new in terms of the country s problems or a strategy for addressing both GDP growth and the expanding national debt and fiscal deficit. They ve kicked that can down the road as far as they can, he said of a national debt that is projected to hit the $10.4bn mark by mid-2022. I would say talk is cheap. Let s see action. We ve heard it all before. Start making it happen.