Dear Editor,

So the IMF has suggested an income tax to solve our fiscal woes.
Instead of looking at their proposed remedy, I suggest we look at the cause of the fiscal problems.
Simply put, it has been fiscal imprudence by successive governments that has caused this. Yep - spending more than they take in while singing the praises of yet another great budget expansion without taxation to pay for it.
Instead of raising taxes, governments, since independence, have borrowed until the country has hit a threshold that is bringing costs the taxpayer doesn't like.
But wait, the government can just blame the IMF for "forcing" it to implement harsh measures like more taxation; the government would never do anything to hurt Bahamians.
And to top it off, the new government is proposing bringing a so-called "spy bill" to Parliament as one of its first legislative initiatives, instead of a Fiscal Accountability Act and a sensible Freedom of Information Act?
I realize running a government is not easy, particularly with the problems outlined in recent months, but instead of two of the FNM's most important campaign issues, we are told we're getting this?
No, I'm not mad at the IMF.

- Rick Lowe

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