Inconceiveable

Former Barbados Prime Minister Owen Arthur says it is inconceivable that the Bahamas could continue to remain as the only country in the Western Hemisphere, which is not a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO).

In an address to the Grand Bahamas Chamber of Commerce on the Value Added Tax (VAT) and its impact on the Bahamas, Arthur, said that for a country whose economic activities and performance are influenced, to an extraordinary degree, by its participation in the global economic arena, “it is inconceivable that the Bahamas will be able to indefinitely maintain this “odd man out” status where relating to a rules-based international economy is concerned”.

He told the business leaders that the relevant issue therefore is not that as to whether Bahamas should become a member of the WTO.

“It is that as to how best the nation should prepare for and negotiate the terms of its participation in this critical institution, and how it should do so while giving equal priority to the other reforms that the forging of such a relationship with the global economy are sure to trigger.”

He said the introduction and potential impact of a VAT in the Bahamas must be discussed in that broader context.

“It has to be viewed as an essential part of a broader suite of economic reforms which have to be implemented as a single, coherent undertaking,” said Arthur, adding the introduction of a VAT “can be viewed as a necessary response to an evolving fiscal situation which derives from Bahamas’ special domestic circumstances.

“This country has a very narrow tax base that allows it to compete effectively with territories in its immediate neighbourhood, which are still colonies of Britain, and which have economic structures similar to that of the Bahamas.

Courtesy: www.cananewsonline.com