"Every life has a watershed moment, an instant when you realize you're about to make a choice that will define everything else you ever do, and that if you choose wrong, there may not be that many things left to choose. Sometimes the wrong choice is the only one that lets you face the end with dignity, grace, and the awareness that you're doing the right thing. I'm not sure we can recognize those moments until they've passed us." - Mira Grant

As Consider This...begins its eighth consecutive year of weekly columns that are deliberately devised to address issues of national importance, we thank our readers for their encouragement and support of, as well as their constructive criticisms and alternative viewpoints to our columns over the years. We extend our very best wishes for a positive, productive and prosperous 2015.
In the first 14 years of the "New Millennium" - a term that was coined to coincide with the commencement of the 21st Century, but seems now to have faded from our daily dialogue like a shadow that dissipates with the impending decline of the daylight - The Bahamas has experienced substantial changes that have placed us on a trajectory that will forever transform the country that we knew in the latter years of the 20th Century.
If they were to return today, the fathers of the nation and heroes of the Quiet Revolution would wonder in amazement if they had arrived in a foreign land, a very different country than the one they had envisioned and left when they departed us to enter eternity.
It would be interesting to observe their facial expressions at the colossal structures that have been erected on Paradise Island and Cable Beach.
In fourteen short years, we have transformed our financial services sector by abolishing bank secrecy and replacing it with what can be best described as a cumbersome culture of compliance under the guise of knowing your clients, many of whom have banked with the same institutions for decades.
In 14 years, we have witnessed two single-term governments, we have legalized web shops, we have introduced a new tax system where previously the nation boasted about its tax-free status; we have privatized telecommunications; and we have initiated modest attempts to redefine our indigenous culture of Junkanoo by mimicking a cultural expression that is foreign to our own, notwithstanding our persistent and perennial pronouncements of loving things Bahamian.
Therefore, in light of the foregoing and in anticipation of things to come, this week we would like to Consider This... will 2015 be a watershed year for the PLP government?

A watershed
A watershed is defined as either the dividing line between two adjacent river systems, such as a ridge, or as an important period or factor that serves as a dividing line. It is a turning point, a defining or pivotal moment or tipping point. It is in the latter context that we will consider whether 2015 will be such a year for the government of The Bahamas.
There are several dramatic changes that the government has proposed that will foreshadow its ability to embrace enormous challenges in 2015.

Containing crime
The most intractable challenge facing the government is its ability to implement workable programs and policies to reduce the level and fear of crime in the country. Crime is unquestionably the single most vexing and perplexing issue with which government must demonstrate progress if it has any chance of obtaining another mandate.
While the government's ability to successfully address this persistently pernicious problem will foreshadow its ability to obtain another mandate from the electorate at the next general elections, its failure in this area will signal its death knell, principally because the PLP came to office with a promise to significantly reduce the level of crime that has become a prominent feature of society.

Growing the economy
In order to reduce crime and to improve the standards of life for Bahamians, the government will have to implement policies and programs to rapidly grow the economy. This can be achieved by improving the speed with which it approves foreign direct investment proposals, as well as radically removing the burgeoning bureaucratic red tape that frustrates Bahamian entrepreneurs' ability to implement their business proposals.

Value-added taxes
The most dramatic fiscal phenomenon which will radically alter the Bahamian economic landscape is the introduction of value added taxes, at an initial rate of 7.5 percent. Many Bahamians have argued that the introduction of this tax will be inflationary, notwithstanding the government's insistence that the rate of inflation will be minimized by the offsetting of Customs duties.
The argument has been posited that this tax will be more injurious to the poor in our country as it will be universally applied on most goods and services. This ultimately means that consumers will have less disposable discretionary income for those who are fortunate to earn a salary or wage.
The jury is still out on the eventual effect that VAT will have on the consumers' lifestyle and the government's ability to arrest and reverse the out-of-control fiscal deficit and national debt.
Only time will tell if Gregory Moss, the Member of Parliament for Marco City, Freeport, is correct in his assessment that the introduction of VAT will cost the PLP government the elections when next Bahamians are asked to go to the polls.

The constitutional referendum
The government has promised that it will hold a national referendum on constitutional changes to enhance gender equality. It has also promised that it will proceed only if it has general parliamentary consensus to proceed, a reality which to date has been evasive. In the meantime, a national education process is underway to inform the public about the benefits of such constitutional changes.
We believe that a successful referendum vote will significantly improve the government's likelihood of election success and therefore this referendum will be a watershed event.

The regularization of web shops
The regularization and taxation of web shops is well in train and the government anticipates that this exercise will raise significant gaming taxes from the web shop operators. The extent to which the government is successful in raising the anticipated taxes will also signal whether the public is satisfied that this watershed event will place the country on a positive pathway to raise urgently needed revenue in order to reverse the national debt and the fiscal deficit.

Next week
In part 2 of this series, we will consider other important issues that the government must address in this watershed year.
Those issues will include the OECD country review later this year, the possible downgrading of The Bahamas by the international rating agencies, the government's ability to successfully address hunger, poverty and the level of unemployment in the country, greater public accountability of its decisions, the emotive issue of succession in leadership, the much anticipated opening of Baha Mar, Family Island development, and the government's much touted and controversial National Health Insurance plans.

Conclusion
We believe that the government should be given high marks for its efforts in addressing many of the tough issues that face us. It has taken several unpopular decisions that have been controversial and needed to be addressed in the challenging exercise of governance.
On the other hand, the government has not been as forthcoming in explaining some of the decisions that have been taken. At the beginning of 2015, the vacancy of Minister of Financial Services has not been filled following the resignation of Ryan Pinder.
In addition, the Prime Minister has not replaced the Senate vacancy that was created by the resignation of Senator Cheryl Bazard nearly two months ago. And on the eve of his visit to China, the prime minister has yet to name a Bahamian Ambassador to that country.
For all of these reasons - and more - we believe that 2015 will indeed be a watershed year for the PLP and for its future as the government.
Happy New Year, Bahamas!

o Philip C. Galanis is the managing partner of HLB Galanis and Co., Chartered Accountants, Forensic & Litigation Support Services. He served 15 years in parliament. Please send your comments to pgalanis@gmail.com.

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