Coalition for Responsible Taxation (CRT) co-chair Gowon Bowe expressed frustration over the lack of tangible progress in providing wide fiscal reform as the country prepares to implement a value-added tax (VAT).
Bowe told Guardian Business that Bahamians needed to take a more active role in demanding fiscal reform from the government leading into 2015.
"The tangible movement on fiscal responsible as well as freedom of information has been slow to get out of the gate. The movement still has to be very strong, but it has to come from all quarters. It has to come where persons who made an outcry over the VAT implementation must continue the mantra to ask for fiscal responsibility.
"As opposed to simply doing it on the street corners or in conversation, we must be making a chorus line that goes to the government and says that while we've accepted tax reform, it must be accompanied by a reform of how you spend our money," said Bowe.
The CRT has largely broadened its focus from VAT-exclusive concerns to promoting wider fiscal responsibility through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and Fiscal Responsibility Act (FRA).
Bowe reiterated that the country required legislation that would hold the government more accountable for its spending while providing updated information services.
Overall, Bowe said that the process was necessary due to the poor quality of information and data systems in the country, stating the auditor general was "two years in arrears in terms of the information he's auditing" due to antiquated systems.
However, Bowe recognized some of the initiatives that the government had taken in streamline its purchasing process, listing the request for proposals for the implementation of an integrated electronic procurement program as a step in the right direction for reducing government expenditure.
"We still need a lot more from the government. We're doing things backwards where we are determining what it is that we need to spend and then trying to find revenue to fund it, when we should be looking the other way around and looking at what revenue we have available," he said.

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