The government has pledged to implement a value-added tax (VAT) on July 1. The 15 percent VAT is intended to expand the tax base in The Bahamas and bring more money in. The government has been running large annual deficits for years. Of late they have been in the range of $500 million. Our level of spending is unsustainable based on the amount we take in.
However, instead of radical spending cuts being at the heart of reform, a VAT-led tax increase is the plan to help close the gap.
In this context, government ministers and officials have been pontificating about the problem and the need for the Bahamian people to embrace paying more to fix it. Ishmael Lightbourne, coordinator of the government's VAT unit, has been at the forefront of the state's public relations campaign pushing VAT.
"I think the essential issue is the country's fiscal position which is consistently showing a deficit gap, and that is not getting better from our present tax regime, and we are putting ourselves further and further into deficits and national debt," he said in an interview with this newspaper in October of last year.
"In that position, my focus has always been that if we do not get off that path, we'll be losing a chance to voluntarily make these changes in terms of expanding the revenue base or reducing the cost of government."
Lightbourne has spoken regularly of the need to hold people "accountable" for what they owe.
Last week it was revealed that the government's tax messenger was not paying his real property taxes. Lightbourne has not paid property taxes in at least 10 years.
He told The Nassau Guardian he "recognizes the hypocrisy and contradiction of this". "That has been a major source of pain and discomfort," he said.
Lightbourne has not been paying real property taxes even though his beachfront residence on West Bay Street is only assessed at $321,000 (property included) and as such his real property tax bill has only been $534 per year.
Prime Minister Perry Christie hired Lightbourne just over a year ago and designated him a point person, the messenger, to lead the push toward VAT.
The prime minister should now dismiss Lightbourne from this role, as he cannot be the one demanding that hardworking Bahamians pay more when he has not been paying what he owes to the state in these taxes. The Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) administration should not have a tax dodger in such a position.
FNM Chairman Darron Cash was right to described Lightbourne as a "flawed messenger" who is unfit to carry the government's torch on the VAT campaign.
"Mr. Lightbourne's decision to not pay property taxes for 10 years suggests a willful refusal to pay," said Cash in a statement.
"Consequently, he has lost all legitimacy as the principal spokesman and advocate of VAT." We hope the prime minister sees the simplicity in this matter. Lightbourne must go from his post. Bahamians should not be insulted by having to listen to a messenger who clearly does not believe in his own message.
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