Senior Partner at McKinney Bancroft & Hughes Brian Moree indicated that there is still a lot of work to be done with The Bahamas' current tax regime before considering a new tax such as an income tax.
Moree's comments were in response to the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) suggestion that The Bahamas implement a low rate income tax in an effort to "strengthen revenue". The IMF suggested that The Bahamas implement the system while reducing import duties.
Speaking with Guardian Business yesterday, Moree said he thinks it would be "premature" for the government to contemplate the introduction of a new major tax "on the backs of the Bahamian people".
Moree pointed out that value-added tax (VAT) was introduced in 2015, and there is still a significant regime of import duties and other indirect methods of taxation, such as business license tax.
"Before we introduce any new form of tax, it seems to me that we need to rationalize the current tax regime in The Bahamas," he explained.
"We need to avoid duplication, and we need to ensure that the burden of taxation is not so great as to drive people out of The Bahamas or make it extremely difficult for business to survive.
"I think a major part of any review of our tax structure does have to include looking at a greater reference to existing collection of taxes and introducing creating transparency in terms of how our tax dollars are spent and where our tax dollars are going.
"If you are going to ask Bahamians to pay more taxes, then you are going to have to deliver services, and you have to deliver them in a more efficient way, and you have to be more transparent about how the tax dollars are being used.
"I think there is a long way to go before we start looking at introducing new forms of taxation, whether it be an income tax or any form of tax."
Moree also insisted that a careful study should be given to the competitive advantages that The Bahamas has to offer as a financial jurisdiction.
"We don't have three kinds of taxation which exist in many other countries, and those three are income tax, capital gains tax and inheritance tax," he continued.
"As we try to expand and develop our financial services industry and we try to bring FDI (foreign direct investment) into our country, the government will have to be very confident that by substantially revamping the tax landscape and doing something as major as income tax, that it would not compromise our business model as a jurisdiction and thereby diminish the major competitive advantage in what is a very competitive marketplace."

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