DO YOU HAVE AN OBLIGATION TO PAY TAXES?
There is a moral and a legal obligation to pay taxes. That comes about when you the citizen accept and agree that you are a part of a nation state. The general community agrees that in order to keep the state going, providing the general public services like roads, defence, law enforcement and education going, taxes have to be paid and taxes have to be collected. It is a tough business. Right now The Bahamas government has decided to take a tough road, the road less travelled by not going to the credit markets to make up the yawning deficits which confront us. The Ministry of Finance has decided to heavily control expenditures by parceling out bill payments to creditors in small bites and collecting aggressively taxes that are owed. Not surprisingly there is pushback. One of Jesus’ disciples in the Bible was a tax collector and was said to be a part of a hated class in ancient times. That is still the case today. The tax collectors of The Bahamas make no friends of themselves when they descend on people’s businesses toting guns and demanding payments at gunpoint. The Prime Minister had to step in stop that practice. Then there was a letter which threatened to sell people’s properties if they didn’t pay real property tax. The Prime Minister again had to step in to stop that as well. The Nassau Guardian now says that this is anti-business and the PLP is anti-business. The PLP’s Chairman Fred Mitchell rubbished their comments and issued the following statement:
1 August 2024
I ask all PLP supporters to examine with great care the statements in the Nassau Guardian and their friends in the FNM that the PLP is anti-business. The two examples that they have used were the Sandals tax issue and the Grand Baham Port Authority payment which is owed.
Neither of those examples hold water. What is the Government supposed to do when people owe taxes (big people) and don’t pay? If they do not, you try to get the money?
That’s it plain and simple.
The Prime Minister has made it clear to the public officials that the PLPs way is by persuasion and not gun-toting, so the Nassau Guardian using that example is dishonest.
The country is in a tight economic squeeze. We are seeking to pay as we go, not to borrow if we don’t have to, with hurricanes hanging in the atmosphere ready to strike at any month.
That means that we have to collect every tax that is owed before turning to credit if a hurricane hits. What is clear is that poor and working class people have been paying their taxes but some big players have been avoiding paying the taxes. They also have a megaphone to get the Nassau Guardian and others to shout on their behalf that the sky is falling. The poor don’t have such an advocate.
The PLP is their advocate and we do so by ensuring that everyone pays their fair share.
What you see playing out now is the noise of those who don’t want to pay. PLPs be careful not to be fooled by their arguments. Anyone who wishes to settle tax issues knows that the PLP has an open door policy and all matters can be settled amicably. But there is an obligation both legal and moral to pay what is owed.
End